Tata Group hospitality firm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) today said it has acquired a controlling 85 per cent stake in Elel Hotels and Investments, which owns the Mumbai-based Sea Rock Hotel, for Rs 680 crore.
Besides, the company said it will demolish the closed Sea Rock Hotel and will redevelop the site.
"We will demolish the existing property and set up a world-class one having a convention centre, like the Bruj in Dubai, retail and commercial operations among others," Tata Sons Director and Vice-Chairman of IHCL R K Krishna Kumar said here today.
Kumar said the company has all the necessary approvals to start working on the project and the demolition job of the existing structure would start in two weeks.
"The entire work should be completed in two to three years time," Kumar said, adding that IHCL was yet to draw up the detailed lay-out in the proposed project.
IHCL had raised Rs 1,400 crore through a rights issue which among other sources would fund the acquisition. IHCL has the option to acquire remaining 15 per cent in Elel Hotels and Investments.
During the serial bomb blast in Mumbai in 1993, Sea Rock hotel was also affected and since then it remained closed. IHCL owns Taj Land's End at Bandra in Mumbai, bang opposite to the Sea Rock hotel.