Ventive Hospitality in talks to acquire 2-3 luxury hotels

New Delhi | Mumbai: Ventive Hospitality, the listed hospitality joint venture between Panchshil Realty and Blackstone, is in talks to acquire two to three large luxury hotels in India, as competition intensifies among Indian and global hotel chains and players increasingly turn to acquisitions to expand their presence. "We are looking at two or three big-box hotels, which will deliver a solid EBIDTA of ₹100 crore-plus. We are in talks with two to three large hotels at this moment," said CEO Ranjit Batra.

Last year, Ventive Hospitality proposed to acquire a 76% stake in Soham Leisure Ventures, which owns the Hilton Goa Resort, along with a land parcel in Goa. This year, it agreed to acquire 100% of Kelzai Eco Reserves Private Limited for ₹281.88 crore in cash, at an enterprise value of ₹466 crore, to expand into the luxury eco-resort and branded villa segment. "We expect to reach our target through a combination of acquisitions and organic development," said Batra. Ventive Hospitality's portfolio includes the Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott and DoubleTree by Hilton hotels in Pune, besides Raaya, Anantara and Conrad hotels in Maldives.

"Currently, we have 14 assets and roughly 2,200 keys. We have grown all of this over the last five years. Going forward, we are targeting a portfolio of 4,000-plus keys," said Batra. "We have around 360 keys under construction and about 1,100 keys in the right-of-first-offer arrangement pipeline with promoters," he added. Out of the 14 operational assets of the company, seven are built by Panchshil and the rest are acquired. Batra said the company is also planning to launch the first Ritz Carlton.

Reserve project in India

"Ritz-Carlton Reserve is a step above Ritz-Carlton. There are only about 10 in the world. We are doing two of them, one in Sri Lanka and one in India. The one in India will come up in the Sahyadri Hills, said Batra. "