With a corpus of Rs1,500 crore, Shristi Hotel Pvt. Ltd, an arm of Kolkata-based Kanoria Foundation, is looking to acquire business hotels and resorts across the country, with a strategic focus on cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. Alongside, the firm, which is privately held by the Kanoria family—promoters of Srei Equipment Finance Ltd—is looking to build two properties from the ground up in Udaipur and Puducherry.
Shristi Hotel has already acquired land for these two properties. The company, which last month launched the Westin hotel in Kolkata under a partnership with the US’s Marriott International Inc., is looking to acquire existing properties for rapid expansion, said chief executive officer (CEO) Sanjeev Oberoi.
“We would look at business hotels and resorts,” he said.
Shristi Hotel has spent Rs1,100 crore on its Kolkata property, which is scheduled to have 314 rooms when completed by June next year.
Currently, only 180 rooms are operational, and the second phase of expansion is budgeted to cost Rs400 crore more, according to managing director Sujit Kanoria.
The firm is looking to set up a shopping mall of around 800,000 sq. ft in the same complex as Westin in Kolkata. It will be ready in 2-2.5 years, he added. A serviced apartment of 100 rooms is also being built on the complex and will be ready in four months.
The planned property in Udaipur is expected to have 300 rooms and the one in Puducherry, 100, according to Oberoi. The company, he said, had already initiated discussions with several international hotel chains for management of these properties.
Source: Mint