Mumbai: Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited (PCHFL), the wholly owned subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises, recently announced its investment of INR 650 crore in the Gurgaon based SAMHI Group. Samhi Group owns 29 hotels and has marquee investors.
This structured debt investment will allow Samhi Group to support their growth plans and refinance existing lenders across three assets – The Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott in Bangalore, the Sheraton in Hyderabad and the Hyatt Regency in Pune.
This is the third significant investment made by PCHFL in the hospitality sector over last 6 months. Prior to this, PCHFL had invested INR600 crore with the Gurgaon based Vatika Group (against the Westin Gurgaon and the Westin Sohna) and INR600 crore with Advantage Raheja Group (against the JW Marriott, Bangalore and the Crowne Plaza, Pune). All loans are against operational assets.
PCHFL has also concluded 5 other transactions, totalling to INR450 crore against 5 hotel assets, (three operational and two in final stages of construction and fit out) operated by top-tier brands like Taj, Hyatt, Radisson, etc. across regions like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Shimla and Goa.
Of this, INR100 crore will be extended as last mile funding towards the completion of the first Taj Luxury Resort in Himachal Pradesh coming up in Theog, near Shimla. The Taj Theog is a 99 key full-service five-star luxury property built over a hilltop of 5 acres with a 360° view of the Himalayan range and is expected to be operational within the next six to nine months.
Khushru Jijina, Managing Director, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Ltd said “We believe that this is an opportune time to target the hospitality sector with ‘intelligent’ capital. As the traditional lenders are unable to provide ‘holistic’ solutions, expertise of our Group and our presence across the capital stack enables us to cater to this industry with unique customized solutions and innovative structures. Our ability to act as a catalyst between owners and operators alike further adds to our distinct competitive advantage over others. Over a span of 6 months, we have deployed INR 2000 crore towards the hospitality sector as we scale our offerings within this vertical to reach a target book size of INR 10,000cr in the next 3 years. The industry is firmly on a path of growth, ably supported both domestic and foreign tourism, has higher disposable income and is witnessing a general change in spending habits of target customers.”
Ashish Jhakanwala, Founder and CEO of SAMHI Group said “We continue to see accretive acquisition opportunities in the hotel sector and we are perhaps best positioned to take advantage of these. We have found, in Piramal, a partner of choice given their unique understanding of the sector coupled with their ability to provide flexible and targeted funding that allows us to pursue growth while maintaining the right capital structure.”
