Ipic Properties, the investment arm of South African businessman Rian Maartens’ Ipic Group, has acquired Country Hotels, a hospitality group with 16 hotels and lodges comprising 638 rooms across the Western and Northern Cape, expanding the private property investor beyond retail into hotels and tourism assets.

Ipic enters hospitality

The transaction gives Ipic its first major hospitality platform and extends its geographic reach into the Northern Cape. Country Hotels operates properties in Springbok, Pofadder, Upington, Kakamas, Kathu, Kuruman and Postmasburg, adding markets outside Ipic’s established Western Cape retail footprint.

Country Hotels will retain its name, management team and staff following the acquisition. Craig Carmichael, who joined the hospitality industry in 1995 and has served as the group’s chief operating officer since 2021, has been appointed CEO. He said continuity would be important as the business enters its next phase.

Portfolio spans two provinces

Founded in 2011, Country Hotels owns and operates properties including Clanwilliam Hotel, Calvinia Hotel and Tankwa Lodge, Springbok Inn and Namastat Lodge, and Orange River Rafting Lodge in Vioolsdrif. Its wider portfolio includes hotels and lodges in Pofadder, Kakamas, Upington, Kathu, Kuruman and Postmasburg.

For Ipic, the acquisition marks a new property segment after more than two decades of investing in Western Cape retail. Maartens founded Ipic Group in 2004, and the company has built a portfolio of nine shopping centers and one office building totaling 65,702.4 square meters of gross lettable area as of September 2026.

Retail base funds expansion

Ipic’s investment strategy centers on neighborhood and community shopping centers in prime residential markets. Its nine retail centers attract 9.4 million visits a year, making the properties attractive to major South African national and regional retail chains, while the group has said it aims to diversify into additional property-related income streams and development opportunities.

Carmichael said Country Hotels would focus on strengthening its existing operations, investing in guest experience and maintaining standards across the portfolio. Ipic also plans to continue the hotel group’s community and charitable initiatives in the areas where it operates. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.