Mumbai, Aug. 14 Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), operators of the Taj Group of Hotels, plans to invest Rs 2,100 crore to add 5,900 rooms in the next three years.
The Chairman of the Tatas-owned company, Mr Ratan Tata, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday: “We plan to invest Rs 1,500 crore over the next three years to add about 1,900 rooms in the five-star and luxury category, and Rs 600 crore to add around 4,000 rooms in the premium and budget segments.”
Replying to a shareholder’s query on the company’s investment in the US-based Orient-Express Hotels Ltd, Mr Tata said: “Orient Express have a certain set of iconic standalone hotels and taking a small stake in it was expressing our interest in working with them.
“It was misunderstood (by Orient Express) to be an attempt to try and get involved in a hostile manner with the company.”
IHCL acquired a 11.57 per cent stake in Orient Express in 2007 for about Rs 1,000 crore ($246.9 million) and had proposed an alliance which the latter rebuffed.
Mr Tata added: “If ever we were to get involved with that hotel on a friendly basis, I think it would be a tremendous addition to our portfolio but there is no way that we would make a hostile attempt on that company.”
Later Mr Tata told us : “One should not read much into our (Orient Hotel) investment.”
The Director of Tata Sons, Mr R.K. Krishna Kumar, said “we would stay invested.”
The share price of Indian Hotels closed flat at Rs 79.90 on Thursday
