Tatas exit Belmond nearly, with another loss

Sells 5.1% stake at $9.57 a share on average; it paid $35 a share to buy into Belmond 7 years ago; now it holds 0.44%

Tata group’s Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), one of the country’s largest and oldest hotel chains, said its subsidiary, Samsara Properties, had sold 5.1 per cent in Belmond (formerly Orient Express Hotels) for $49.57 million (Rs 337 crore).

This is the second such share sale in four months by the Mumbai-based company in Bermuda-based Belmond. In February, it liquidated 1.24 per cent stake for $11.96 million (Rs 81.3 crore).

At an average of $9.57 a share, IHCL has continued to take a haircut compared to the $35 a share it paid to buy the stake seven years before. In February, the company got an average of $9.4 a share. IHCL collectively paid Rs 1,000 crore for the Belmond shares.

The latest sale price is also lower than the $12.63 a share offered by IHCL to buy Belmond in 2012. IHCL's subsidiary, Samsara Properties, continues to hold 0.44 per cent of the Class A ordinary shares of Belmond.

Last year, IHCL said it would look to liquidate its holding in Belmond, even as continued efforts by former chairman Ratan Tata to take over the Bermuda-based hotel chain remained fruitless.  The proceeds will be utilised for retirement of gross consolidated debt, which as of December stood at Rs 4,833 crore.

The company aims to reduce debt by at least 30 per cent by the end of the next financial year, by unlocking value in some of its assets.