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Kasada Capital Management, an independent Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) hospitality investment platform, said it has reached the first close of its hospitality fund, with equity commitment of $500 million. The hospitality fund, Kasada Hospitality Fund LP, is expected to reach $1 billion.

Created by Katara Hospitality, Qatar’s leading hospitality organisation, and AccorHotels, a French multinational hospitality company, Kasada Capital intends to bridge the gap between the hospitality market players in SSA and international investors. Katara Hospitality and AccorHotels will respectively contribute $350 million and $150 million. Additional financing will be raised through leverage and co-investments.

According to Kasada Capital, the fund will target greenfield projects, brownfield projects and conversions of existing hotels through acquisitions. Its portfolio of hotels, from the economy to the luxury segment, will be operated under AccorHotel’s wide range of internationally renowned brands.

Kasada Capital, in a statement released on Friday, said the hospitality market is currently one of the most promising and yet underserviced sectors in SSA, where growing economies and emerging middle class are creating high-growth markets that are left largely untapped.

“There is an incredible opportunity ahead to try out an innovative hospitality investment platform in the region,” said Oliver Granet, CEO and Managing Partner at Kasada Capital. “While in other parts of the world such initiatives are already thriving, they do not exist with critical size and integrated structure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The time is now for bold strategies to be implemented.”

Kasada Capital is jointly led by David Damiba as the CIO and Managing Partner and Granet, who was formerly the CEO of AccorHotels Middle East and Africa. Both of them will put in place the team of professionals that will deliver on the objectives of the investment platform.