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EIH Head Says No Plans To Sell Stake At The Moment

By Reuters

  • 09 Jul 2010

Hotel chain operator EIH Ltd Chairman PRS Oberoi said on Friday there were no immediate plans to sell stake in the firm.

Last year Oberoi had said the EIH founding family was in talks to sell a part of its stake to Analjit Singh, who controls healthcare services and insurance firm Max India.

Besides, Indian cigarettes-to-hotel group ITC, which holds nearly 15 percent in EIH, has been reportedly open to raising its holding in it.

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The founding family of EIH, which runs the Oberoi and Trident chain of hotels, owns 46.4 percent, Oberoi told reporters.

"We have no plans at the moment," he said in response to a question on whether they will sell their stake.

Oberoi, however, said he was concerned the European crisis could affect Indian tourism.

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"European crisis seems to be quite severe. A lot of our guests come from Europe. I'm little concerned, this may affect some of the people who want to visit India. I hope not too much," he told reporters.

In FY10, the firm posted a 61 percent fall in consolidated net profit to 663.1 million rupees on net sales of 8.45 billion rupees.

The firm plans to spend 1 billion rupees this year in FY11, mainly on renovating properties, Oberoi said.

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EIH's Oberoi property in southern Mumbai, which was damaged in a terror attack in November 2008, reopened in April.

The company had then said it was renovating the property at an estimated cost of $35-$40 million and will add 700 rooms under its Oberoi brand by 2013. In all, it operates 2,200 rooms under the Oberoi brand.

EIH expects to double the number of rooms in the next 5 years, Oberoi said adding, "We are concentrating on management contracts as most other hotel companies."

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At 1.35 p.m., shares in the firm were up 0.58 percent at 122.05 rupees in a firm Mumbai market.

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