Singapore’s Meuse to invest Rs 1,000 crore

Pursuing buys, alliances; may set up resorts, restaurants

KOLKATA: Singapore-based Meuse Hotels & Hospitality plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in India in two years.

It is looking at several options in the country, including acquisitions, management pacts and building of hotels and restaurants.

Meuse, which has set up two offices in Mumbai and Delhi, may mop up Rs 1,000 crore from the stockmarkets in Singapore and London, said Anil Tandon, head, India operations, Meuse Hotels.

He told DNA Money: “The company is exploring all options and is also keen to take on projects on a turnkey basis. We could also look at management contracts on a profit-sharing basis or take a certain percentage of sales as fee.”

After having finalised plans to take over HSSP’s properties in Nashik and Goa. The group has Udaipur, Ranthambor, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabd are on its radar.

At this juncture, the company is looking at outright acquisitions in Udaipur and Lucknow while a survey is on for Jaipur, Ranthambor and Ahmedabad as probable destinations for Meuse, according to Tandon.

It is learnt that while the company is interested in setting up a resort in Ranthambor, it is keen on a heritage property in Jaipur.

Sources said Meuse is likely to pick up units that are not performing well or have the potential to do well or even those that could be upgraded.

Meuse also plans to introduce three categories of hotels in India - Jupiter (a luxury brand with 100-350 rooms), Mercury (business hotels with 60-220 rooms) and Moon (budget, comprising about 100 rooms).

The group plans to have 10 Jupiters and 15 each of Mercury and Moon brands in India over the next couple of years.

However, Tandon informed that Meuse’s stress in this country will be on the mid-market segment with 2,000 rooms in this space. Plans are afoot to have 50 properties in place though Tandon did not offer a time frame for this achieving this target.

Meuse’s luxury hotels will offer all high-end facilities and, working towards this end, the group recently signed its first memorandum of understanding (MoU) with HSSPL for taking over the latter’s Goa property, “The Beach”, and Westend hotel in Nashik to
convert both into properties of international standards.