India Real Estate Monitor

Yatra Capital Ltd, the Euronext listed real estate company, has invested $7 million for a 40% stake in Jalan Intercontinental Hotels Pvt Ltd, a company that is building a two hundred room business hotel in Kolkata. The hotel will be supervised by Indian Hotel Ltd under the Taj Gateway brand.
The hotel will be built on a 1.9 acre plot situated at the junction of Rashbehari Connector and EM Bypass in Kolkata. EM Bypass is the main arterial road between old and new Kolkata, connecting Kolkata Airport and eastern parts of the city. The hotel will primarily cater to the requirements of IT/ITES companies located in and around the IT parks and SEZs coming up in the area.
Presently there are close to one thousand five hundred rooms in the premium category in Kolkata.
Occupancy levels have increased at an average rate of 15-18 % over the preceding few years with average annual occupancy levels hovering around 80 %, which is estimated to remain at the same level in the medium term. Almost 60-70 % of guests in the premium category hotels are business travelers.
This will be Yatra Capital’s 14th investment in the country, which includes two other investments in the hospitality sector. Yatra had invested Rs 63.44 crore for a 30 % stake in another firm Platinum Hospitality Services which will develop a hotel in Bangalore at an estimated cost of Rs 402.62 crore. Yatra Capital had also acquired one of the first India-focused property fund Eredene Capital Mauritius for Rs 99.39 crore in 2007.
Ajoy Veer Kapoor, Managing Director, Saffron Asset Advisors Private Ltd, said: “This is Yatra’s third hospitality project and is in line with our commitment to building a strong, diversified portfolio of quality assets. Our investments for Yatra have the potential to deliver across a variety of sectors and locations and we will continue to seek opportunities that will maximize shareholder returns.”