Bharat Hotels is top bidder for Great Eastern Hotel

The Bharat Hotels group emerged as the top bidder for the West Bengal government-owned Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata by a huge margin over the other two bidders on all counts.

"Four pre-declared criteria were applied for the rating and Bharat was far ahead," said a highly placed source close to the development.

Bidders were first asked to commit themselves on how much they would pay upfront for the property.

Then they were required to give a legally binding undertaking on how much they would invest in the renovation of the property against a 90 per cent shareholding in the holding company of the hotel property.

Third, bidders were asked to present proof of their existing net asset base and, finally, supply data to establish their credentials in terms of experience in running a hotel.

"Bharat was ahead of the competition on the first three counts, while in the fourth, the bidders were more or less rated equally," said the source.

Kolkata-based Great Eastern Hotel will become the third heritage property in the kitty of Bharat Hotels.

While the Bharat Hotels group owner Lalit Suri did not comment on having won the bid for the property, senior company officials confirmed it.

A decade-long battle to privatise the state-run 200-room, 165-year-old property has finally drawn to a close.

A formal announcement on the bidder may have to be awaited till the next meeting of the West Bengal state cabinet on November 24, but chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is expected to make an announcement earlier than that, on November 16.

"We already have two fine heritage properties in the country, at Srinagar and Udaipur. According to the norms, we cannot make any changes to the facade of the property, but we will pump in money to put in place latest facility, and it will become a five-star luxury hotel," Suri told Business Standard.

At present, he does not have a property in Kolkata. Apart from the Rs 120 crore for the hotel bid, Suri will also invest money for the facelift of the property.

"We will have to do it, but as for now, giving out exact figure will be difficult," he said. "I will now become the only hotelier in the country having hotels from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Ahmedabad to Kolkata."

Suri is also in the expansion of the Bharat Hotels group at an estimated investment of about Rs 1,000 crore towards four new properties.

"The four properties will be in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Noida and Jaipur. After including the Kolkata property, the total number of properties with us will touch 12," he said.

"We are busy finalising land for the four properties. While that has been done for the one at Ahmedabad, land will be finalised for the rest by December-end," Suri said.

The investment will largely come from financial institutions, banks and loans.