Appu Hotels, owner of Le Meridian Hotels in Chennai and Coimbatore, is planning to open three more hotels in the next two years with an investment of Rs 500-600 crore. The company is also exploring possibilities of acquiring properties in Europe and the US apart from other states in India.
The company would set up 200 five-star rooms and another 300 four-star rooms in Tamil Nadu through the three projects, said Palani G Periasamy, chairman, Appu Hotels Ltd. With the two hotels in Chennai and Coimbatore, it is currently offering around 510 rooms. “We intent to remain in the five and four star hospitality segments. Our aim is to increase the total number of rooms to 1,000 by 2015,” said Periasamy.
Of the three projects, it is expected to complete the Rs 200-crore high-end beach resort, Le Meridian Resorts and Spa, coming up between Chennai and Mahabalipuram, by 2012. It has commissioned consultants from the US, United Kingdom, Singapore and Thailand to work on the project.
The investment would be from internal accruals and equity. The Chennai-based company is also preparing documents to issue initial public offering (IPO). However, he said the company was yet to finalise the amount to be raised through the IPO.
It is also exploring possibilities of expanding its presence to European and US markets through setting up operations there. It is also looking at properties in some of the states in India for hospitality projects.
Appu Hotels started operations of its hotel in Coimbatore with 255 rooms, from April, 2011. The project cost was around Rs 400 crore. The company is a part of the PGP Group that has presence in segments including education, real estate, sugar manufacturing and finance.