CCIL eyes overseas property buys, Rs 100 cr domestic expansion

Leisure and clubbing major Country Club India has lined up a Rs 100 crore investment over the next two years to set up a pan-India chain of country spas, even as it eyes property acquisitions in the Gulf, a top company official said.

"We have earmarked Rs 100 crore to set up four to five country spas pan-India, the first of which will be opened in Mumbai by end-this year. We are also looking at acquisitions overseas in destinations such as Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain," Country Club India (CCIL) Chairman Y Rajeev Reddy told PTI here.

While the spa expansion would be funded entirely through internal accruals, the company is mulling various funding options, such as a follow-on public offer (FPO) or private equity (PE) funding, for the overseas acquisitions.

"We set up our marketing office in Muscat recently and we are very upbeat about business from the Middle East and North African regions," Reddy said, adding, "We are likely to seal an overseas acquisition within a year."

While funding plans will be fine-tuned going forward, Reddy did not rule out an FPO or PE funding, "though it is too early to talk about this".

BSE-listed CCIL presently has 55 clubs pan-India and two overseas properties -- one in Dubai, which it acquired for Rs 175 crore about two years ago, and another in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

At home, the clubbing major plans to set up country spas that provide wellness tourism facilities in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Kolkata, besides Mumbai. The four to five spas will be operational by 2012, he said.

"Country spas reflect the potential CCIL sees in the world of wellness tourism and we aim to capitalise on this," Reddy said.

At present, the company's room inventory stands at 700, which will increase by 500 over the next two years, he said.

The company clocked sales and PAT of Rs 308 crore and Rs 40 crore, respectively, in FY10 and is eyeing an over 25 per cent growth in sales to around Rs 400 crore this fiscal on the back of good business from Gulf markets.

"Our PAT, too, should rise to Rs 60 crore," Reddy said.