Mantri plans Rs 2,500-cr foray into hospitality

Realty major Mantri Realty will foray into the hospitality business and has drawn up plans to set up two five-star hotels and a clutch of three- and four-star hotels across the country by 2010.

The total investment in the business is envisaged at around Rs 2,500 crore, of which Mantri will be bringing in Rs 800 crore as equity investment. The remaining Rs 1,800-1,900 crore will be raised through debt and strategic investors.

"We plan to invest Rs 800 crore as our equity in the venture and have a network of 10 hotels with 2,500 rooms pan-India by 2010," Chairman Sunil Mantri said here today.

Negotiations were under way with three leading hotel chains for managing its hotels. The three entities were a subsidiary of Hyatt, an Israeli-based company and an upcoming domestic hotel chain, Mantri said, without disclosing their identities. A subsidiary will be set up for the business and around 25 to 30 per cent will be offloaded to strategic partners. "We will finalise our financial partners by early 2008," Mantri said.

Two five-star hotels will be set up in Bangalore and Hyderabad, while three- and four-star hotels would be set up in Solapur, Nagpur, Goa, Pune and Hyderabad. "Our hotels in Goa, Solapur and Hyderabad should be up and running by 2009, while our five-star hotels should be ready by 2010," Mantri said. Mantri plans to have a presence in tier I, II and III cities. "We see burgeoning potential for the hotel business in Tier II and III cities such as Pune, Nagpur and Sholapur," he said.