Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is investing ₹752 crore in three hotel-owning subsidiaries of Samhi Hotels, which together house Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott at Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road, Hyatt Regency in Pune, and its recently acquired Trinity hotel portfolio in Whitefield, Bengaluru.
With this deal, GIC will acquire a minority (35%) stake in these subsidiaries, which have 1,000 rooms combined. Of the total investment, ₹603 crore will be used upfront to reduce the company’s debt across its entire portfolio, while a small portion will go toward transaction expenses.
Another ₹149 crore will be infused over the next two years to partially fund capital expenditure for a dual-branded hotel under the Trinity hotel portfolio (Tribute Hotel and an upcoming Westin hotel) banners in Whitefield, Bengaluru.
With this, the Singapore fund will pick up a 35% stake in five hotels, of which four are operational and one is under development. One of the four operational hotels, Trinity, will undergo a major renovation and be upgraded to the Tribute Portfolio by FY28, while the new Westin in Bengaluru is expected to open in FY29.
Ashish Jakhanwala, CEO & managing director of the company, said, “This will help us strengthen our balance sheet. This partnership gives us tremendous firepower to grow our portfolio. GIC will bring institutional capabilities for us to benefit from.”
Financial boost for Samhi
Prashant Biyani, market analysist at Elara Capital, told Mint the deal is expected to improve Samhi’s financial position. By FY27, its net debt-to-equity ratio is projected to fall from 1.3 to below 1, and its net-debt-to-Ebitda is likely to improve from 3.4 to around 2.6, he added.
Biyani said the addition of the Tribute and Westin hotels could significantly boost Samhi’s valuation. While the stock could react positively to the deal in the short term, a possible sell-off by private equity investors may weigh on its performance in the day, he said. He added that all private equity investors except ACIC were likely to offload a 5% combined stake through block deals. ACIC plans to hold on to its shares for now.
Currently, three of the four operating hotels – Hyatt Regency Pune (301 rooms), Courtyard (170), and Fairfield (166) — have been valued at about ₹1,300 crore in total. That works is about ₹2.5-2.7 crore per room, despite these being in the upper upscale to upper midscale segments. Together, they contribute ₹130-150 crore to the company’s annual operating earnings.
Room rates on the rise
This bodes well for Samhi’s vision as hotel rates in India have been rising steadily. In April 2025, room rates are up 8% year-on-year, driven by strong growth in business destinations, according to Elara Capital’s hotel rates tracker, which tracked about 125 hotels across 12 cities.
Rates in key business hubs such as Delhi and Mumbai surged 51% and 28% year-on-year, respectively, pulling up the national average. Cities such as Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad saw more modest changes, with rates up 5%, 1%, and down 2%, respectively. In contrast, leisure destinations remained flat overall, though Agra and Jaipur bucked the trend with year-on-year rate increases of 20% and 18%. Cochin, Amritsar and Goa, however, continued to see rates decline – by 19%, 7%, and 4%, respectively.
Hotel companies have benefited from this uptrend. All large listed players reported more than 14% growth in average room rates on online travel platforms in April versus the same month last year. Chalet Hotels, Juniper, and Lemon Tree Hotels saw rates jump 24-26%, while IHCL posted a 22% rise. ITC Hotels and EIH also logged healthy gains of 16% and 14%, respectively.
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