Piramal to invest Rs 6.5 bn as structured debt in hotel operator Samhi

Investment is the third in hospitality by Piramal, will allow Samhi Group, which owns 29 properties, to support growth plans and refinance existing lenders across three assets

Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, a unit of Piramal Enterprises, said on Monday that it will invest Rs 6.5 billion in Gurugram-based hotel operator Samhi Group. 

The Samhi Group owns about 29 hotels. This structured debt investment will allow Samhi Group to support its growth plans and refinance existing lenders across three assets -– The Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott in Bangalore, the Sheraton in Hyderabad and the Hyatt Regency in Pune, Piramal said in a release.

This is the third major investment made by Piramal in the hospitality sector over last six months. Prior to this, it had invested Rs six billion with the Gurugram-based Vatika Group and Rs six billion with Advantage Raheja Group.

Piramal has also concluded five other transactions, totalling to Rs 4.5 billion against five hotel assets, operated by top tier brands such as Taj, Hyatt, and Radisson, across regions like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Shimla and Goa. Of this, Rs one billion will be extended as last-mile funding towards completion of the first Taj Luxury Resort in Himachal Pradesh coming up in Theog, near Shimla. 

Last year, Samhi acquired five properties in India, belonging to British hotel chain Premier Inn, for over Rs 2 billion. These hotels are currently being rebranded as Fairfield by Marriott. In 2016, Samhi also bought out Hyatt Regency's property in Pune from RK Jatia Group-owned Ascent Hotels for about Rs 3.5 billion.

Khushru Jijina, Managing Director, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, said, “Over a span of six months, we have deployed Rs 20 billion towards the hospitality sector as part of our plan to scale our offerings within this vertical to reach a target book size of Rs 100 billion in the next three years. The industry is firmly on a path of growth, ably supported both domestic and foreign tourism. It has higher disposable income and is witnessing a general change in spending habits of target customers.”

Ashish Jakhanwala, Founder and CEO of Samhi Group said, “We continue to see accretive acquisition opportunities in the hotel sector and we are perhaps best positioned to take advantage of these."

In 2016, Goldman Sachs invested Rs 4.41 billion as equity in Samhi group.

The Samhi group plans to spend around Rs four billion this year on acquiring hotel assets in the country, reports said earlier.