ITC acquires 2.44% stake in EIH and 0.53% in Leela Mumbai for over ₹111 crore ahead of hotel demerger

ITC Ltd, which is demerging its hotels business from January 2025, on Wednesday said it has acquired shareholding of rival hospitality chains Oberoi and Leela from its wholly-owned arm, Russell Credit Ltd.

“The company today acquired 2.44 per cent of the share capital (comprising 1.52 crore equity shares of ₹2 each) of EIH and 0.53 per cent of the share capital (comprising 34.60 lakh equity shares of ₹2 each) of HLV from RCL,” ITC said in a regulatory filing.

Post such acquisition, ITC’s shareholding in EIH and HLV aggregates to 16.13 per cent and 8.11 per cent, of their paid-up share capital, respectively, it added.

“The acquisition of shares was carried out at book value in the books of RCL,” it said.

The board of ITC had on October 24 approved the consolidation of the shareholding of EIH and HLV under the company.

EIH owns and manages premium luxury hotels and cruisers under the ‘Oberoi’ and ‘Trident’ brands, while HLV Ltd owns and operates The Leela Mumbai.

Besides, in a separate filing, ITC informed that the company and ITC Hotels Limited (ITCHL) have mutually agreed to fix January 6, 2025 as the record date for the purposes of determining the shareholders of the company to whom equity shares of ITCHL would be allotted.

On Tuesday, Kolkata-headquartered ITC said all conditions for the demerger of its hotel business are “fulfilled” and the scheme would be effective from January 1, 2025.

The conglomerate has already received regulatory approvals, including from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on October 4, sanctioning the scheme between ITC and ITC Hotels.

The shareholders of ITC had already approved the demerger of ITC Hotels into a separate entity.

This will create a new wholly-owned subsidiary, ITC Hotels Ltd, to handle its hotels and hospitality business.

Under the scheme of demerger, ITC Hotels will issue equity shares directly to the shareholders of ITC in a manner that about 60 per cent stake is held directly by ITC shareholders proportionate to their shareholding in ITC and the remaining 40 per cent stake to continue with ITC, it said.

As per the schemes, investments in hospitality entities forming part of the hotel business — Bay Islands Hotels Ltd, Fortune Park Hotels Ltd, Landbase India Ltd, Srinivasa Resorts Ltd, WelcomHotels Lanka Pvt Ltd, Gujarat Hotels Ltd, International Travel House Ltd and Maharaja Heritage Resorts Ltd — will be transferred to ITC Hotels.

Launched in 1975, ITC Hotels, India’s premier chain of luxury hotels, has over 140 hotels across 90-plus locations.

Shares of ITC Ltd settled at ₹470.65 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday, up 0.17 per cent from the previous close.