Nadathur Group to acquire Aussie hotel chains

The Nadathur Group, a private investment firm founded by Infosys co-founder Nadathur S Raghavan, is now expanding its hospitality business to new continents. After establishing its presence in South East Asian countries, the group is set to acquire Constellation Hotels, a leading hospitality network across Australia and New Zealand present in close to 70 locations.

According to sources, Nadathur Fareast, a group firm based in Singapore, will acquire Constellation Hotels in a deal worth $50 million.

The acquisition will be the second-largest buyout by the Nadathur Group in the hospitality sector after its arm — Ativa Hospitality — in 2009 purchased a majority stake in Bangkok-based Bed Management Company, which operates a chain of boutique hotels and resorts in Thailand and Cambodia. Raghavan could not be reached for comments.

 

The Nadathur Group handles a $600-million fund and invests in different sectors like information technology, hospitality, aerospace, biotechnology, health care, education and real estate through angel, venture capital private equity and public equity and debt routes.

Constellation Hotels runs five brands of hotels across Australia, including Country Comfort, Australis Hotels, Chifley Hotel and Sundowner Motor Inns. The Chifley Hotel has a portfolio of 10 hotels since its launch in 2008.

In April, Nadathur entered into a joint venture agreement with Singapore-based Sunshine Travels & Tours Ltd, a subsidiary of Sunshine Holdings Plc, to float a new hospitality company, SilverNeedle Hospitality Singapore. This joint venture is supposed to invest approximately $50 million for expanding business in Singapore.

Through Ativa Hospitality, Nadathur focuses on boutique properties in both urban and leisure projects primarily in Asia. Currently, Ativa is focussing on projects in Cambodia, India, Laos Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The Nadathur Group invests through three verticals — family wealth management, private equity or venture capital investments, and social investments. Investments handled by the family office include the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sobha Developers, Goodearth Maritime Ltd, Senegal-based ICS, and Romania-based Tractorul. Through the VC vertical, Nadathur invested in Connexios Life Sciences, Metahelix and career Point Infosystems Ltd.