Sahara India Pariwar, the conglomerate run by Indian billionaire Subrata Roy, is the latest Indian company to buy a landmark business in Britain by acquiring the historic Grosvenor House Hotel that was once home to the Duke of Westminster and frequented by royalty, celebrities and business leaders since its re-opening in 1929.
After having failed to buy debt-ridden Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc (MGM) in September 2010, Sahara has acquired the iconic London hotel from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBC) for, what some say, a throwaway price of £470 million (Rs3,275 crore).
“The valuation of the hotel, three years back was more than £1 billion. The valuation, even today is quite high but due to highly satisfactory due diligence by the RBS who owned the property and after long and strict negotiations, we have purchased it for £470 million,” said Sahara Group chairman Roy.
However, the sale came after the Edinburgh-based bank failed to find a buyer willing to pay around £700 million in two previous auctions.
The buyout would propel India as one of the main acquirers of iconic British business after the $68-billion Tata Group acquired Europe's second-largest steelmaker Corus Steel, the marquee luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, the Crowne Plaza-St James Court Hotel located next to Buckingham Palace and Tetley Tea.
The acquisition also comes after Venky's, the flagship company of Pune-based $1-billion Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group last month acquired the 135-year old English premier division football club, Blackburn Rovers in a £40 million (Rs280 crore) deal.
Sahara owns the Sahara Star Hotel in Mumbai, which has 210 guest rooms and 13 suites and the luxurious 10,600 acres Aamby Valley City.
Grosvenor House situated on Park Lane in Central London has 420 rooms, 74 suites, 27 meeting rooms and also houses Europe's largest and most famous banquet hall called the Great Room.
Source: Domain B