Sun International has received a R1.5bn offer for a controlling stake from Chilean investment house Nueva Inversiones Pacifico Sur, helping the share price of SA’s second-biggest hotels and casino operator stage a late-session rally to close 22% higher.

Under the partial cash offer, privately held Nueva is bidding R22 per share for a 50.1% stake in the company, plus a bridge loan and commitment to underwrite more than half of Sun International’s planned R1.2bn rights offer, it said in a statement on Wednesday...