London-listed hospitality and leisure company India Hospitality Corporation (IHC) is ready to build a new hotel in Bangalore next year, for which it is raising funds worth Rs 1,000 crore to expand its hotel business. Ravi Deol, Managing Director-IHC, said that they would be focusing on expanding their hotel business in tier II cities and would be opening a new hotel in Bangalore by July 2010. IHC manages its hotel chain under the brand 'Gordon House' and has three properties in India – two in Mumbai and one in Pune.
As media reports suggest, the company is also raising a huge amount of Rs 1,000-crore for expanding its hotel business in the country. The company has already invested Rs 200 crore in the hotel business, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Gordon House Estates. Commenting on this, Mr. Deol said that they were building Rs 1,000-crore property fund, which would be utilized in expanding the hotel business in the country. There are various foreign investors which are investing in this fund and the fund will close in three or four months.
Speaking on company's acquisition plans, Sandeep Vyas, IHC president and COO said that they were looking at opportunities for both organic and inorganic growth in the country and hospitality sector was poised for a boom and they were hoping to cash in on that. In year 2007, IHC acquired Mars Restaurant, the hotel and restaurant company that manages 'Not Just Jazz', 'By The Bay' and 'Pizzeria' chains. Recently, the company has signed an agreement to manage 10 hotels of realty firm Entertainment World Developers (EWDPL), which would come up by 2011.
