Lemon Tree Hotels to raise Rs 1,040 crore via IPO

Lemon Tree Hotels' public offer comprises sale of up to 185,479,400 equity shares by the existing shareholders, including Maplewood, Whispering Resorts, Palms International and RJ Corp. The issue will open on March 26 and close on March 28.

Lemon Tree, currently the leader in terms of controlling interest in owned and leased rooms has operations spread across the value chain and range from acquiring land to owning, leasing, developing, managing and marketing hotels.

The company has 40 hotels with 4,300 rooms in 24 cities across the country. It has a portfolio of 19 owned-hotels, three owned-hotels are located on leased or licensed land, five leased hotels and 13 managed hotels, a company statement said.

It has recently commenced operations at its managed hotel, Lemon Tree Premier in Patna which has 105 rooms. The company had also entered into a hotel operation and management agreement for a managed hotel in Dwarka at Gujarat. It is estimated to have 108 rooms and is expected to be operational by February 2019.

Founded in 2002 by Patu Keswani, the company has hotels under four brands - Lemon Tree Premier, which is an upscale brand; Lemon Tree Resorts, a leisure segment brand; Lemon Tree Hotels, a midscale brand and the economy brand Red Fox Hotels.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, CLSA India, JP Morgan India and Yes Securities will manage the company's public issue. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).