Foreign shores

Mumbai, April 1: Indian Hotels is close to a mega-acquisition in New York. The target: a prestigious hotel property, possibly from the Four Seasons group.

Vice-chairman R. K. Krishna Kumar has been quoted in a agency report, which says the five-star hotel is from the Four Seasons group. However, this could not be confirmed independently.

The 52-storey hotel is in the heart of New York, close to the Central Park and the JFK airport. It is a five-star hotel and will fit into the brand image that Indian Hotels wants to project as one of the leading deluxe hotel chains of the world.

Officials of Indian Hotels refused to speak on the deal. CEO Raymond Bickson was not available for comment. Sources said company executives were not willing to give away details for fear of falling foul of US stock market regulations.

The Four Seasons Hotel in New York is a deluxe, classic and modern hotel. All the rooms have a great view of the Central park and the whole city.

The hotel boasts of the largest rooms in the city, averaging 600 square feet.

The hotel caters to both business and leisure travellers, travel agencies say.

A couple of years ago, Indian Hotels had exited from a property in New York as it had run into losses and did not match Taj?s upper class image.

In recent times, the company has become vocal about its international ambitions. Chairman Ratan Tata has talked about plans to enter gateway cities of the world like Los Angeles, New York and Amsterdam.

The company has a marketing tie-up with the Raffles group, which has a huge presence in leading Southeast Asian countries.

In the recent past, the Tatas have taken aggressive steps to globalise its operations in foreign countries. It has acquired the broadband and ILD network of Tyco, which has a presence in three continents. The company has bid for a basic teleservices company in South Africa and is eyeing a company in Pakistan.

Tata Motors has acquired Daewoo?s commercial vehicles unit in South Korea and a company in Spain which makes bus bodies. Tata Steel also bought out NatSteel, which has a presence in Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Tetley was the first global sized company to be acquired by the Tata Group and has turned into a profitable enterprise.