Succession plan ‘when the time is right’.
The Chairman of Oberoi Hotels, P R S Oberoi, today said he had no plans to sell his stake in East India Hotels (EIH), which owns the Oberoi hotels and resorts chain. And, he said, it wasn’t possible to stop anyone from buying the group's shares in the open market.
The statement is the first official indication that talks with Max India Chairman Analjit Singh to bring him on board as a co-promoter of EIH have fallen through.
The promoters have 46.4 per cent stake in the company. “At the moment, there is no plan for stake sale,” Oberoi said at a press conference here.
Last year, the promoters had opened talks with Singh to sell a 17 per cent stake in the company. It was planned that Singh would also buy from the market and increase his stake to 26 per cent. The two together would then have held more than 50 per cent in the company. The deal, analysts say, was to ensure the company did not face a hostile bid. Singh had collaborated with EIH to set up a 100-room five-star hotel in Dehradun under the Trident brand in 2009.
ITC, which also has a sprawling hotels business, had increased its stake in EIH to 14.98 per cent, which triggered speculation that it could go for an open offer. However, ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar had denied any ambition of taking over the company, terming its stake in EIH as just an investment.
On the group's succession plan, Oberoi said it “will be announced when the time is right”.
The Oberoi Group, founded in 1934, operates 28 hotels and three cruise vessels in five countries under the luxury 'Oberoi' and five-star 'Trident' brands.
Meanwhile, the company is expanding its presence in India and outside, and has planned to double its rooms in the next five years. Presently, it has 4,741 rooms in hotels, resorts and cruises operated by The Oberoi Group in India, Indonesia, Mauritius, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
EIH is opening two properties in Hyderabad by 2011-12 in partnership with Jubilee Hotels. The total cost of the project is Rs 650 crore and Oberoi Group's share is Rs 44 crore. The company is also opening hotels in Gurgaon by the end of this year. It is also coming up with a resort hotel in Chandigarh and planning to get its 250-year-old palace in Madhya Pradesh operational.
A Dubai property will be opened next year. And, a hotel in Morocco with an investment of Rs 24 crore; the project’s total cost is Rs 300 crore.
