Nepal's CG Corp in advance talks to buy listed hotel brand in India

Nepal-based CG Corp Global is in advance talks to acquire a publicly-listed hotel brand in India, a top company official has said. The company also plans to add 26 new managed hotel properties in the country expected to be operational in 2022.
"We are in the process of acquiring a very well known brand of a listed hotel company... It will give us a much bigger bandwidth in the hotel business than we currently have," CG Corp Global Chairman Binod Chaudhary told .

The two companies are at the level of finalising commercial agreements, Chaudhary added.

CG Corp Global - which operates in the hospitality business through brands including The Fern, The Fern Residency, The Zinc Living and Beacon - is looking to acquire the hotel brand that owns and operates hotel properties.

"Fern brand at present is a pure management company...Now, we are looking at the right balance between asset-light and company-owned properties. This brand (we are looking to acquire) has assets and into the management of hotel operations...We will add about 400 rooms through this acquisition," he said.

At present, CG Corp Global operates 112 hotel properties, with 6,013 rooms in 10 countries.

The company plans to add 29 properties, with 2,233 keys. Out of these, 26 hotel properties in India and these properties are expected to be operational by 2022.

The rest three are owned by CG Corp Global with joint venture partners to come up in Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand.

Chaudhary said the company is in the process of a big merger and acquisition in the food space.

"It is a listed FMCG company, so I can't share more details at this time. We are looking at this company to grow and consolidate our food business," he said.

CG Corp Global also plans to invest Rs 200 crore to set up two new manufacturing plants in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

The company's FMCG arm CG Foods is eyeing Rs 1,500 crore revenue from its popular noodles brand Wai Wai in one year as its aims to become a multi-products company.