Investment group Hoskens Consolidated Investments has increased its stake in gaming company Tsogo Sun in a US$81 million deal, and has effectively taken control of the gaming company by buying another chunk of the company from the Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services (Fabcos). HCI previously held 32% of Tsogo Investment Holdings, which owned 51% of Tsogo Sun. Under this deal HCI gets an additional 19% of Tsogo Investment Holdings, giving it 51% of the company and, in turn, Tsogo Sun.

This consolidates HCI's hold over the largest hotel and entertainment group in southern Africa. Tsogo Sun's interests include Johannesburgh's Montecasino property in the Gauteng Region, KwaZulu-Natal's Suncoast Casino in the Durban area, Hemingway's Casino in Eastern Cape and about 82 hotels in the Southern Sun Hotels Group. This deal comes after communications company Johnnic bought an effective 9.7% in Tsogo Sun by buying into Fabcos Investment Holding Company. As the Fabcos Trust will also get HCI shares, the company said this would also boost its black empowerment status.

In a complicated deal involving various corporate structures, HCI is buying all the shares in Fabvest. Fabvest owns 75% of Fabcos Investment Holdings (FIH), which in turn holds the Tsogo Sun shares. On the cash side, HCI is making a cash payment of close to US$30 million to the Fabcos Trust and transferring 15.5-million HCI shares to the trust. SABMiller owns the remaining 49% of Tsogo Sun directly . Until now, HCI's main investment was in television station ETV, which contributed US$12.2 million to the company's US$17.1 million profit for the six months to September.

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