Michael Jackson, the pop superstar, is buying a stake in Sun International, the South African entertainment outfit famed for extravagant and bizarre gambling resorts such as Sun City.

Mr Jackson is expected to pay about 400 million rand (€59 million) for a 27 per cent holding.

Sun City is one of the singer's favourite hotels. It was built in what was an "independent" black homeland under apartheid to cater for whites wishing to gamble or consort with black prostitutes, activities then illegal in South Africa proper.

With the abolition of the homeland system, the end of laws governing inter-racial sex, and with new gambling centres near the big cities, Sun City is trying to reinvent itself as a family holiday resort. It has not been wholly successful. The hotel sacked 2,000 workers earlier this year. Several of Sun International's other resorts have been driven out of business by changes to South Africa's gambling laws.

Mr Jackson developed an interest in southern Africa after meeting President Nelson Mandela.

He has made several visits over the past year with his business partner, US gaming magnate, Don Baden, looking for entertainment investment opportunities.

They have considered building a theme park in Namibia and establishing an orphanage in Swaziland as part of a tourism project. Mr Jackson descended on the World Economic Forum in Windhoek last year, where he was accompanied by more bodyguards than any of the African presidents.

The singer has become close friends with Sun International's founder, Sol Kerzner. He was the special guest at the opening of Mr Kerzner's resort in the Bahamas this year.

Mr Jackson and his partner are buying the 27 per cent holding owned by the North West Development Corporation, a regional government body legally obliged to dispose of its shares in Sun International by May 10th.