{"id":822620,"date":"2025-05-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=822620"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:51:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T13:51:48","slug":"south-african-billionaire-launches-exclusive-hotels-across-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/822620\/south-african-billionaire-launches-exclusive-hotels-across-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"South African billionaire launches exclusive hotels across the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African billionaire Koos Bekker has built and launched numerous luxury estates worldwide, including in Franschhoek, Amsterdam, the United Kingdom, and Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koos Bekker was born in Potchefstroom on 14 December 1952. He attended Ho\u00ebr Volkskool Heidelberg and excelled academically and in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the school\u2019s top performer and passed Afrikaans, English, Maths, and Physical Sciences with distinction. He was also the head boy in his matric year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played in the first cricket team, won the regional trophy as part of the first tennis team, and led the second rugby team to victory in its league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After school, he completed degrees in law and literature at Stellenbosch University and law at Wits University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating, he became a state prosecutor but soon realised it was not the right fit for him and moved to advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1980s, Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos, sold their house, and he borrowed money to enrol in an MBA program at Columbia University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having researched the concept as part of his MBA degree, he returned to South Africa and, with Ton Vosloo, persuaded the major newspaper groups to invest in M-Net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fledgling pay-TV station started broadcasting in 1986. It initially lost a lot of money before succeeding spectacularly, leading to a listing in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flushed with success and realising that M-Net had probably reached its growth ceiling, Bekker split the company into M-Net and MultiChoice, which later became MIH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M-Net and MultiChoice\u2019s success helped show Bekker\u2019s exceptional business acumen, leading to his appointment as Naspers CEO in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, Bekker made the unusual decision to forgo his salary, bonuses, and other perks and instead elected to be compensated through stock options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tied his personal wealth directly to Naspers\u2019s success and its investments, aligning his interests with those of shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a risky move at the time, it has since become one of the smartest business decisions of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under his leadership, Naspers bought a large stake in the Chinese Internet firm Tencent in 2001. Today, Tencent is one of the world\u2019s largest companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This stake made Naspers South Africa\u2019s most valuable company, and with it, Bekker became a dollar billionaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He retired as Naspers\u2019 CEO on 31 March 2014. On 17 April 2015, he succeeded Vosloo as chair of the Naspers board. He remains chairman to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bekker launches luxury estates across the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In recent years, a family trust linked to Koos Bekker has sold over R6 billion of shares in Prosus, which he used for investing in his luxury estates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2023, Bekker\u2019s family trust sold 2.5 million Prosus shares, worth R3.4 billion, to finance building operations at hotels in various countries in which he holds an interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed up with his family trust selling a further R2.9 billion worth of shares in Prosus in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This money was aimed at funding building operations at his hotels in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is speculation that this sale will partly pay for the construction of Blou in Keurboomstrand, which will be created out of Bekker\u2019s holiday home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blou will be the latest addition to Bekker\u2019s luxury estate offerings around the world. It complements other luxury estates, including the well-known Babylonstoren in Stellenbosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babylonstoren spans nearly six acres and features architecture dating back to 1690, a farm, and an orchard vineyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also owns other properties across the country and abroad, including a multi-million-pound estate, The Newt, in Somerset in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a look at Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos\u2019, growing portfolio of luxury estates and hotels in many of the world\u2019s tourist hotspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Babylonstoren in Stellenbosch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Babylonstoren, founded in 1692, is one of the oldest working Cape Dutch farms in the Winelands region just outside Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate is positioned around a sprawling garden inspired by the historic Company\u2019s Garden in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Bekker purchased the estate in 2007, his wife extensively renovated and restored it, which now includes luxury accommodations and award-winning restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roos commissioned French garden architect Patrice Taravella to plan the garden\u2019s layout. The planning alone took two years, and the planting twelve months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babylonstoren\u2019s buildings have also been restored, including the traditional H-form house, storerooms, gabled henhouse and pigeon loft, wine cellar, stables, and workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Babylonstoren Farm Hotel and cottages offer an authentic farm stay in various cottages, a manor house, and a family house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Newt in Somerset<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Following Babylonstoren\u2019s success, Bekker and Roos turned their attention to The Newt near Bruton in Somerset, United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constructed on a 2,000-acre working farm, the Hadspen House and the Emily Estate were originally bought by the couple as a private home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy husband wanted an agricultural location close to London, which is hard to find,\u201d Roos told House and Garden at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d read a lot of English literary classics set in this part of the country and had fallen for Bath. When we found Hadspen, it seemed perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roos and Bekker reimagined the old Georgian manor house as a hotel in time for its 2019 opening. As with Babylonstoren, the focus is on the 300-acre garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Newt also hosts the annual Chelsea Flower Show, where guests are supplied with Babylonstoren wines. A one-night stay in a single room costs \u00a3855.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vignamaggio in Italy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Vignamaggio is a historical estate located between Florence and Siena, founded out of an ancient settlement in the 1400s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate sprawls over over 400 hectares, with vineyards, vegetable gardens and ornamental plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the other estates, Vignamaggio is a working farm and still produces some of the finest wine in Italy, over 600 years since it first began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate has not always been in such good condition, falling into severe disrepair after the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grand house, with its chapel, magnificent frescoes, and outbuildings, fell into decline until 2017, when restoration began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the villa is an upscale B&B and winery that bills itself as \u201cThe Birthplace of Mona Lisa\u201d as Lisa Gherardini, the subject of Mona Lisa, was supposedly born at Vignamaggio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate has also significantly diversified its produce outside of wine to olive oil, vegetables, and hospitality, which is in line with the other farms owned by Bekker and Roos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vignamaggio was transformed from a traditional wine farm into a modern agricultural estate, with an Italian hotel, three private villas, and four apartments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over-Amstel Boerderij in Amsterdam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Over-Amstel Boerderij, first built in 1894, is situated on the Amstel River in the Duivendrechtse Polder, a region near Amsterdam. It has a robust farmhouse and a wide front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmhouse features unique ceiling paintings and a rich interior, which aligns with the area\u2019s characteristic history, with wealthy families moving from the city to the Amstelland countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with The Newt in Somerset, Bekker and Roos found this estate perfect for those who want to stay near a major city while enjoying country living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bekker and Roos commissioned an extensive restoration process on the site and turned it into a working farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate offers a farm with a garden, a cheese factory, a farm-to-fork restaurant, and a boutique B&B in its historical front house with two rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Story of Emily in St Ive, Cornwall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Located in St Ive, Cornwall, The Story of Emily is well out of Bekker and Roos\u2019s wheelhouse, as it is not a working estate, farm, or hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, it is the restored house of Emily Hobhouse, who famously defied the British Empire to expose the horrors of concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Branded a \u201chysterical woman\u201d and \u201ctraitor\u201d, she refused to be silenced, saving thousands of Boer women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t just speak out. She published damning reports, led social reforms, and single-handedly challenged an empire at war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s house contains the Rectory, which Emily and her siblings grew up in. It was first designed and constructed between 1852 and 1854.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living on the estate until she was 34, the Hobhouse family was firmly part of the landed elite and had numerous servants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Story of Emily allows travellers to travel back in time to follow Hobhouse\u2019s story and reveal how she would have grown up during the Victorian era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The home now also includes the aptly named The Restaurant, which cooks traditional South African food using ingredients grown in the nearby garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BLOU in Keurboomstrand in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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For decades, Bekker and Roos have been holidaying at Keurboomstrand on the Western Cape coastline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This estate is small and intimate, nestled in a craggy elbow where the Tsitsikamma mountains almost meet the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keurboomstrand features one of the most charming little beaches in the world, famed for its rugged coastline and unspoilt beaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over recent years, Bekker and Roos restored and upgraded a few beach cottages on a sea-facing strip of land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BLOU has only eight self-catering cottages. They are dotted around a central courtyard with a swimming pool, sauna and steam room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South African billionaire Koos Bekker has built and launched numerous luxury estates worldwide, including in Franschhoek, Amsterdam, the United Kingdom, and Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":822624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[22369,22418,22367,2511,1253,107,22416,22368,22417,22415],"class_list":["post-822620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-babylonstoren","tag-blou","tag-karen-roos","tag-koos-bekker","tag-multichoice","tag-naspers","tag-over-amstel-boerderij","tag-the-newt","tag-the-story-of-emily","tag-vignamaggio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822620"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822632,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822620\/revisions\/822632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}