Singapore-based luxury hospitality chain Banyan Tree Holdings has entered into a joint venture agreement with Kapico Group for a resort and spa in Kerala.
MUMBAI: Singapore-based luxury hospitality chain Banyan Tree Holdings has entered into a joint venture agreement with Kapico Group for a resort and spa in Kerala.
The project, which will come up on the Vembanad Lake, would be branded as Banyan Tree Resort and Spa. Offering 100 water villas and luxury houseboats plus resort residential development, it would start receiving guests by 2008.
Banyan Tree officials in Singapore declined to divulge investment details. However, industry sources said the resort and spa specialist has taken a 15% equity stake in the joint venture.
A diversified company based out of Kuwait, Kapico Group’s businesses are spread in various sectors including automotive, healthcare, lifestyle retailing and infrastructure. In India, the group is primarily present in the automotive sector through a component manufacturing unit it acquired last year and a Maruti Suzuki franchise. The resort spa project in Kerala is touted to be its first hospitality venture in the country.
DNA Money has learnt that Banyan Tree executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping was recently in India to explore other opportunities, including a spa resort in Goa.
Banyan Tree has signed a deal in Gurgaon to manage a spa under their Angsana branding. It has also signed a management contract with Bangalore-based realty company Brigade Enterprises for two projects in Karnataka. While the first is a 25-room Banyan Tree Resort and Spa, the second would be a 50-room Angsana Resort and Spa. Both the properties are expected to get operational sometime in 2008.
According to industry sources, Brigade has already commissioned a hill resort project near Chikmagalur in the Western Ghats, a four-hour drive from Bangalore.
However, it is not very clear at this stage whether this is one of the two properties to be managed by Banyan Tree. The hill resort project is currently christened Cascades Hill Resort & Spa and is based on the winning design from an international architecture competition conducted by Brigade Group. The project is designed by C&T Architects of Bangalore.
Banyan Tree currently manages the Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort at Bangalore, which is owned by real estate developers Prestige Group.
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