As many as 22 entities have shown interest in monetisation of The Ashok Hotel. These companies will participate in the hotel’s monetisation roadshow with the tourism minister set to seek the Core Group of Divestment’s (CGD) nod on inputs received from potential bidders.
Indian Hotels, Taj, Leela, Hilton, Andaaz, JLL, and DLF are among the 22 participants as per people in the know.
Joint venture and private equity (PE) investors partnering with real estate players can also bid for The Ashok,- a 5-star hotel in Delhi.
The bidders may be allowed to construct service apartments and convention centres on the property as per Ashok’s lease conditions.
The CGD nod will be sought based on inputs received in the Ashok roadshow.
The Ashok hotel is owned by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a PSU under the Union Tourism Ministry, which runs hotels and restaurants at various places, besides providing transport facilities.
It had been listed in the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2021. The Centre will kickstart
roadshows from August 22 to gauge investor appetite for the monetisation of the sprawling The Ashok.
After the roadshows are over, ITDC will seek the Union Cabinet's nod for The Ashok's monetisation. This will include options given by the bidders in roadshows, a government official told CNBC-TV18. Once the Union Cabinet approves the monetisation plan for the hotel, advisors will be appointed by the ITDC.
According to monetisation plan, the first land parcel of 11.62 acres, where The Ashok hotel is located, will be managed by private players on PPP operate-manage-develop (OMD) model for 60 years.
The second land parcel of 1.83 acres of the hotel will be managed by private players for 99 years on the design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) model.
(Edited by : Akriti Anand)
