'Will focus on portfolio of business hotels in tier-I locations'

Samhi Hotels Ltd, which plans to raise ₹1,370 crore by selling shares, will continue to expand its portfolio of business hotels in India’s top cities, Ashish Jakhanwala, the chairman, managing director and chief executive, said.

- Varuni Khosla

Most of the proceeds — ₹1,100-1,150 crore—will go towards reducing debt, he said. The Gurugram-based company has 31 hotels, both owned and leased, across the country with 4,800 rooms. Earlier this year, it acquired ACIC, which had six operating hotels. The price band per share has been set between ₹119-126. Samhi launched in 2010 and works with eight hotel management companies such as Marriott International Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Hilton, among others. It first filed its papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to ₹2,000 crore in September 2019 and obtained the markets regulator’s approval in November 2019, but it did not go ahead with the plan. Edited excerpts:

How do you plan to use the IPO proceeds?