Hotel Leela mulls Rs 3,000-cr capex

Hospitality major Hotel Leela Venture will own, develop and operate five more luxury hotels with a total project cost of over Rs 3,000 crore by 2014, a top company official said here.

The investment for this expansion is a mix of debt and equity.

"We will be opening five new luxury hotels called 'Leela Palace' with a total of 1,300 rooms in next 3-4 years. Out of these five hotels two hotels will be operational by next year," Leela Venture Vice Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Nair told reporters here.

The Leela Venture has already spent Rs 1,400 crore for the same, he added.

The venture is also opening up two new hotels in New Delhi and Chennai with an investment of Rs 300 crore each. The hotel in New Delhi will be operational by September this year, while Chennai will start from early next year, he said.

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, which is an expanding chain is one of the finest five star luxury resorts and business hotels in India, is also planning to open up three more luxury hotels in Agra, Hyderabad and Pune by 2014.

"We have already acquired land for Rs 150 crore in three cities and total project cost for developments will be around Rs 800 crore. The development work for this project will start from next year onwards," Nair said.

The company bought back foreign currency convertible bonds worth $25-million due for maturity in 2012 impending to increase the promoters shareholding from current 52 per cent to 53 per cent by March 2011, he said.