Empee Group mulls Rs 700-crore capex

Economic Times 22/9/08

THE hospitality division of the diversified Empee Group is upgrading and
renovating a couple of its hotels, even as it is on the verge of launching a
greenfield 100-room project at Sriperumbadur, the auto and telecom
corridor near Chennai. The Rs 1,000-crore group has envisaged an
investment of over Rs 700 crore on the projects.

Empee Distilleries joint MD Nisha Purushothaman, who is spearheading
the hospitality business, said the 63-room Grand Orient property on Mount
Road, the commercial nerve centre of the city, would be upgraded to a
four-star hotel. The structure would be re-done and it would have 100
rooms, once the work is completed. The company would spend Rs 50
crore to renovate and upgrade this hotel, she said.

At Sriperumbadur, the group is planning to use a portion of its
eightacre land parcel to set up a 100-room hotel venture that envisages
an investment of Rs 40 crore, she said.

For the first time, the group is venturing beyond the city. It has plans to
set up a 200-room hospitality project in Bangalore, where it has acquired
five acres. She said the hotel would entail an investment of Rs 200 crore.

In Chennai, Empee has set apart Rs 5 crore to renovate New Victoria, a
threestar category 50-room hotel. The Hilton 352-room project at Guindy
in Chennai is a fivestar deluxe venture promoted by the group. It is
expected to be ready by mid-next year. In the first phase, 253 rooms
would be available and this is slated to get commissioned by mid-2009,
she said. The second phase of the project, costing over Rs 400 crore,
would take about two years to get completed. The funding would be done
using 30% equity and 70% debt, she said.