Le Meridien back in business as PGP wins battle for Appu Hotels

CHENNAI: Chennai’s iconic five-star hotel, Hotel Le Royal Meridien, is gearing up for full-scale operation again just in time to usher in Christmas and New Year celebrations after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai, accepted the settlement proposal submitted by its promoter, Appu Hotels.

The tribunal passed the much-awaited order on Wednesday in favour of the original promoter and operator of the five-star hotel in the last two decades.

As per the order dated December 20, the division bench of the tribunal comprising judicial member Sanjiv Jain and technical member Venkataraman Subramaniam permitted the withdrawal of the application originally filed by the financial creditor Tourism Financial Corporation of India Ltd in accordance with the promoter’s proposal that was approved by the Committee of Creditors with 100 per cent majority voting.

The bench directed the termination of the corporate insolvency resolution process against Appu Hotels Limited (AHL) and restored the rights and management of Appu Hotels to its original board of directors with immediate effect. The resolution professional was discharged from duty and was also told to hand over all the past reports and accounts to the board.

Reacting to the development, Palani G Periasamy, the chairman of Appu Hotels and the diversified PGP Group, said, “We are delighted to announce that we are back in the hospitality business. Hotel Le Royal Meridien Chennai and Le Meridien Coimbatore are back with us.”

Recalling how the COVID pandemic and the prolonged lockdowns impacted the hospitality business in general and Appu Hotels in particular, he said AHL’s finances took a severe hit due to this, forcing them into the NCLT framework. “But, all that is now behind us.”

Periasamy said the management has made all arrangements for operating the hotel on a full scale in the most efficient manner. “The iconic five-star deluxe property in the heart of Chennai was our dream project launched two decades ago and all these years it had carved a niche for itself in the luxury hotel segment.”

He said AHL’s five-star deluxe hospitality brand in Coimbatore has been seeing good occupancy levels. Le Meridien in the texcity has become a sought after luxury hotel and the only five-star deluxe property outside Chennai metro.

The battle for the control of the marquee properties, which began when the tribunal admitted the petition filed by Tourism Financial Corporation of India, had seen several twists and turns after MK Rajagopalan, managing director of MGM Healthcare, entered the fray to take over Appu Hotels with a Rs 423-crore bid.