Berggruen Hotels, part of the New York-based Berggruen Holdings group, is looking at greenfield projects in the Middle East, North African and South Asian regions.
KOLKATA: Berggruen Hotels, part of the New York-based Berggruen Holdings group, is looking at greenfield projects in the Middle East, North African and South Asian regions.
In the first phase, in 2008-09, the company will invest about $100 million in its overseas properties — the same quantum that it had committed to its India venture that was launched in 2006.
The company is looking at five properties in Morocco, six in the United Arab Emirates and four in Turkey. In South Asia, Sri Lanka and Maldives are on the radar.
In Morocco and the UAE, the company will develop greenfield projects through the joint venture route, while in Turkey, it will develop and manage the properties on its own. “Our establishment in Turkey, (Berggruen Turkey) will help us identify the land there,” Partha Chatterjee, whole-time director and chief marketing officer, Berggruen Hotels, said.
Regarding the funding, Chatterjee said, for the construction, Berggruen will go in for debt, while the real estate funding will be done out of New York-based Berggruen Holdings.
In India, Berggruen plans to invest about $70 million from its $100 million corpus.
It also has a debt financing option of $150 million over the next 4-5 years. The funding pattern so far has been around Rs 25 lakh per room for the mid-scale properties and Rs 50 lakh per room in its upscale segment.
Berggruen launched its ‘Keys’ brand under three sub-brands — Keys Hotels, Keys Resorts and Keys Apartments. It has been positioned as a three-star, full service, value-for-money brand. Berggruen is also finalising plans to unveil an upscale brand, positioned as a four star, full service hotel.
It has acquired properties under its Keys Hotels brand in Bangalore, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Pune, Ludhiana, Baroda, Jammu, Lucknow and Aurangabad.
It will build a resort in Kovalam and develop two Keys Apartments in Bangalore and Kolkata, mainly to serve the infotech and BPO clientele. Other sites being pursued include Jaipur, Hinjewadi near Pune, Indore, Vashi in Navi Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Hyderabad Hitec City among others.
m_madhumita@dnaindia.net
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