IHC on expansion spree

India Hospitality Corp (IHC), which owns Mars Restaurants and SkyGourmet Catering, has hired Ravi Deol to head Mars Restaurants and also its $200 million hospitality fund.
Deol joins IHC as a board member and chairman and chief executive officer of Mars restaurants.
He would concurrently head the $200 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund, which is listed in London’s Alternate Investment Market (AIM).
Mars operates two Gordon House Hotels, a 4-star hotel chain and a string of restaurants such as Not Just Jazz By The Bay, Tendulkar’s, All Stir Fry and Just Around The Corner.
Earlier, Deol was the director of Bharti Enterprises and the chief architect of the Bharti-Wal-Mart tie-up. He is also the founder of Barista coffee chain.
“Our target is to have 2,000 hotel rooms in the next three years. We are going to have one more hotel brand in the mass-premium segment. We plan to invest $1 billion in organic and inorganic expansion in the Indian hospitality and restaurant sector over the next three years,” Deol said.
Out of the total investment, around $800 million would go into hotels and the rest will be in restaurants. The $200 million, seven-year hospitality fund, is expected to close by August.
Last June, IHC acquired Mars Restaurants and SkyGourmet Catering for around $110 million from Sanjay Narang, the founder and promoter of the firms, and Malaysia-based private equity fund Navis Capital Partners. Navis also owns Delhi-based restaurant chain Nirula’s and there exists a provision for IHC to acquire Nirula’s. However, Deol said there were no immediate plans to acquire Nirula’s.