ITC evaluates Hotel business divestment

June 18, 2023 admin Leave a reply Post Comment

ITC evaluates Hotel business divestment

ITC may be evaluating real estate investment trust (REIT) as an ´alternative´ structure, among other options, for its hospitality business as it continues to explore ways to enhance value for stakeholders.

A report from Japanese broking firm Nomura said that divestment of hotels business was on the cards and ITC was evaluating various alternative structures, such as REIT, joint venture, etc, to ensure that it was cost and tax effective.

The report mentioned that the takeaways were from meetings with the ITC management at Nomura´s conference in Singapore.

ITC said in response to a query from a leading newspaper, that it remained committed to implement its ´ asset right´ strategy, focus on sweating existing assets, create additional revenue streams and pursue alternative structures in line with industry recovery dynamics towards engendering the next horizon of growth as also enhancing value creation.

“ Beyond this, we will not comment on any other speculation,” it added.

Industry sources said that several options may be under consideration as alternative structures for hotels.

A structure for hotels was complicated as each property could have different characteristics in terms of land and it was not a homogenous product, they explained.

Anuj Puri, chairman and founder, ANAROCK, a real estate advisory firm, said that going for a REIT is a winwin for ITC as well as its shareholders.