Strategic alliance

New Delhi, July 28: Real estate developer Uppal Group today tied up with international hotel chain JW Marriott to develop and manage two five-star hotels at an investment of Rs 500 crore.

Of the two hotels, one will come up in Gurgaon, comprising 210 rooms, while the second will be developed in Chandigarh, having 175 rooms. “We will be investing around Rs 500 crore to develop the properties,” said Gian Bansal, CEO (SEZ and hotels) of Uppal Group.

According to the agreement, the New Delhi-based firm will develop and own the hotels, while JW Marriott will manage them. The tie-up will be a revenue-cum-profit sharing agreement, Bansal said. The properties will be operational by 2009.

IPO next fiscal

Uppal Group will launch an initial public offering (IPO) during the first quarter of the next financial year. The promoters could dilute up to 15 per cent holding through the public flotation.

“We will soon go for public listing. The funds raised will help us in our expansion plans,” said Manish Uppal, managing director of Uppal Group. The group, however, declined to give details of the amount it planned to raise from the capital market.

“We have already started the procedure of floating an IPO and it will take some time to finalise it. We are planning to hit the market after declaring our annual financial results in March 2009,” said Ajay Mangal, director (finance) of Uppal Group.

“Though we will raise money from the capital market, we still prefer to mop up funds through private placements. We have already raised $250 million for our five projects from private equity players,” said Mangal.

The realtor has diluted a 50 per cent stake in its 263-acre special economic zone in Gurgaon to the US-based Vornado Realty Trust, apart from offloading a 50 per cent stake in another 86-acre SEZ in Gurgaon to Trikona Capital.