SAMHI Hotels and GIC announce a strategic partnership for an Upscale+ hotel investment platform in India with an equity investment plan of up to ~US$300mn

GIC, leading global institutional investor, and SAMHI Hotels Limited ("SAMHI") (BSE: 543984) (NSE: SAMHI), a prominent branded hotel ownership and asset management platform, have entered into a strategic partnership to establish an investment platform (the "Joint Venture") for upscale and higher hotel assets in India.

The partnership will be incubated with five of SAMHI's hotels with more than 1,000 rooms (the "Seed Assets") valued at ~INR 2,200 crores with GIC acquiring a significant minority stake in the underlying SPVs. The hotels are located in high density office micro-markets in Bengaluru and Pune with favorable demand growth and high barriers to entry for new supply.

The Seed Assets include the following hotel assets:

- Hyatt Regency - Pune, Nagar Road - 301 rooms (with upcoming 22 apartments)
- Courtyard by Marriott - Bengaluru, ORR - 176 rooms
- Fairfield by Marriott - Bengaluru, ORR - 160 rooms
- Trinity Hotel - Bengaluru, Whitefield - 142 rooms which will be converted to as part of Marriott's Tribute Portfolio
- Under development 220 room Westin Hotel, which is being added to the existing Trinity Hotel in Bengaluru

The investment will be used for capital expenditure, future acquisitions and to reduce leverage across hotels. SAMHI will manage all the operational and development assets in the platform.

With this investment, SAMHI will strengthen its balance sheet and grow its portfolio through its well tested 'category conversion' strategy.

Ashish Jakhanwala CEO & Managing Director, SAMHI said, "We are pleased to announce this transformational partnership with GIC. We have a strong track record in the hotel sector in India and GIC brings unparalleled institutional capabilities for us to benefit from. In addition to helping us strengthen our balance sheet, this partnership gives us tremendous firepower to grow our portfolio."

Morgan Stanley acted as the exclusive financial advisor to SAMHI on this transaction.

Shares of Samhi Hotels Limited was last trading in BSE at Rs. 174.05 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 176.30. The total number of shares traded during the day was 144310 in over 2171 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 177.85 and intraday low of 171.45. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 25072103.00.

Source : Equity Bulls

Keywords

SamhiHotels INE08U801020 GIC JointVenture InvestmentPlatform Upsclae Higher HotelAssets India