The Hindu Business Line : Oberoi group keen on projects in Thailand, Cambodia, Dubai

Mr P.R.S. Oberoi (right), Chairman and Chief Executive, EIH Ltd, along with Mr S.S. Mukherji, Vice- Chairman and Managing Director, at the company's 55th annual general meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , July 27

EIH Ltd, a member of the Oberoi Group, is now negotiating for suitable greenfield hotel projects (through the management contract route) in Thailand, Cambodia and Dubai — the three places where the Group does not have a presence.

The company has already received proposals from property owners in these regions, and these are under study.

Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday after conclusion of the annual general meeting of the company, Mr P.R.S. Oberoi, Chairman and Chief Executive, said a consultants group from the Far East has been appointed to work on the emerging opportunities. He said the Group would be able to announce one hotel project each in all three places within this year. The interested parties, according to him, were basically landowners willing to invest in a hotel project.

He said all future expansion projects of the Group, both overseas and domestic, would be largely through management contracts or with very little equity participation, as the Group already has "far too many assets".

On the domestic circuit, two of the new hotel projects of EIH are the Rs 200-crore 175-room luxury Oberoi brand hotel in Gurgaon (managed property) and Bangalore (Rs 250 crore). He said the architects for the Gurgaon project have been appointed, and work on the project is expected to commence shortly. He said both hotel projects are expected to be completed within the next three years.

The 440-room Rs 650-crore Bandra-Kurla project, construction for which is set to commence soon, is expected to be commissioned by September-October 2007. Some Rs 300 crore has already been spent on the project.

On the Trident brand of hotels, which have become very successful after the strategic co-branding tie-up with Hilton, Mr Oberoi said EIH has already received some proposals from interested domestic players keen on a tie-up.

The Trident brand is working very well in some of the top cities such as Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, where there was scope for a second Trident Hotel, he pointed out.

He said the average occupancy of the Oberoi Group hotels in 2004-05 increased to 67 per cent as against 61 per cent in the previous fiscal.

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