Stake in hotel chain Lemon Tree raised by Dutch pension fund APG
The Dutch pension fund now holds around 13% stake in mid-market hotel chain Lemon Tree. This deal has pegged the valuation of the hotel at approximately Rs 3,000 crore. With the help of this capital infusion LemonTree aims to have close to 8000 owned and managed rooms by 2017.
Earlier the hotel company signed a deal with the APG Asset Management in 2012 when they invested Rs 180 crore into Lemon Tree and Rs 470 crore in JV Fleur Hotels. The stake has now reduced to 43% from 47% due to transfer of assets.
The pension fund will spend Rs 190 crore on Lemon Tree and Rs 110 crore on Fleur. Lemon Tree’s chairman and MD Patu Keswani informed that Fleur and Lemon Tree have now has equity base of Rs 1500 crore and 1400 crore respectively. APG manages the Netherland’s largest and the world’s third largest pension fund Stichting Pensionfonds ABP. This is the first FDI in India in the hotel space in 2014.
The hotel chain is optimistic about its future growth. The company is also looking to add another 5000 employees to its existing employee base of 3300. The company is number third in the industry. Their plan is to figure among the top two names. ITC Hotels and Tata’s IHCL occupy first two positions.
Source: The Economic Times
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