SAMHI & GIC join hands for a joint venture for bringing upscale hotel assets to India

The partnership will be incubated with five of SAMHI’s hotels with 1,000+ rooms valued at INR 2,200 crores with GIC acquiring a significant minority stake in the underlying SPVs.
GIC, global institutional investor, and SAMHI Hotels Limited have entered a strategic partnership to establish an investment platform (the “Joint Venture”) for upscale and higher hotel assets in India.
The partnership will be incubated with five of SAMHI’s hotels with more than 1,000 rooms (the “Seed Assets”) valued at INR 2,200 crores with GIC acquiring a significant minority stake in the underlying SPVs. The hotels are located in high density office micro-markets in Bengaluru and Pune with favorable demand growth and high barriers to entry for new supply.
The Seed Assets include the hotel assets includes, Hyatt Regency - Pune, Nagar Road – 301 rooms (with upcoming 22 apartments); Courtyard by Marriott - Bengaluru, ORR – 176 rooms; Fairfield by Marriott - Bengaluru, ORR – 160 rooms; Trinity Hotel - Bengaluru, Whitefield – 142 rooms which will be converted to as part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio; and Under development 220 room Westin Hotel, which is being added to the existing Trinity Hotel in Bengaluru.
The investment is said to be used for capital expenditure, future acquisitions and to reduce leverage across hotels. SAMHI will manage all the operational and development assets in the platform.
With this investment, SAMHI will strengthen its balance sheet and grow its portfolio through its well tested ‘category conversion’ strategy.
Ashish Jakhanwala CEO & Managing Director, SAMHI said, “We have a strong track record in the hotel sector in India and GIC brings unparalleled institutional capabilities for us to benefit from. In addition to helping us strengthen our balance sheet, this partnership gives us tremendous firepower to grow our portfolio.”