Zuri Hotels in talks with PEs to raise funds

Bangalore-based Zuri Hotels & Resorts is in talks with private equity (PE) players to raise funds for expansion, according to a senior company official.

Zuri Hotels & Resorts, which has properties in Goa, Bangalore and Kumarakom, is the hospitality arm of the Rs 400-crore turnover Zuri Group Global. Backed by investors from the West Asia, Zuri Group Global has business interests in real estate and floriculture. The hotel units are run under Zuri Hospitality Services.

Aditya Kamani, director, Zuri Group Global, said, “We are in talks with a couple of PE players to sell 20 per cent stake in the hospitality services arm. The proceeds will be used for expanding the hotel business.”

 

The group, which has so far invested Rs 700 crore in the country, is hopeful of striking the PE deal before 2012-end. Zuri Hospitality is looking to add 15 new hotels in the next five years in India and overseas, taking its tally to 22 hotels. It has five hotels in India and two hotels overseas — Liverpool, the UK and Mombasa, Kenya.

It is looking at various locations, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mysore, to name a few, for setting up new hotels.