Entrepreneur, Nicky Van Der Walt, has launched luxury hospitality group, Shimmy Luxury Collection, and unveiled plans to reinvent the Cape Town Ritz Hotel with a R110 million (€7m) investment. Van Der Walt is CEO of Cape Town’s Shimmy Beach Club, which is included in the portfolio.

The new hospitality group is an equity-based management company offering legal support, financial investment, operational modelling, design and brand building.  Van Der Walt’s wife, former beauty queen and model, Lee-Ann Liebenberg, will serve in a creative advisory role. 

“We’re not simply a management company,” says Van Der Walt. “We offer equity and investment solutions that create a partnership model by being vertically integrated by offering a single-source turn-key solution. We have the resources that enable us to deliver on all aspects, from bespoke design concepts through to operational solutions.”

The group emphasises that it comes from a financial environment where South African-generated wealth is flowing out of the economy. Van Der Walt believes it is incumbent on business owners to reinvest in the country and not simply service existing responsibilities.

SLC has taken on a 20-year management contract for The Ritz Plaza. A refurbishment of the property, which begain in August, is expected to be fully completed by February next year, with rollout of the first refurbished rooms in early December. The hotel will offer roof-top restaurant Top of the Ritz, influenced by concept chef, Bertus Basson and opening mid-December; a gym and a new nightclub featuring resident DJ, Black Coffee.