Taj sells Blue Sydney for $32m
INTERNATIONAL hotelier Indian Hotels Company, better known as Taj Hotels, will exit the Australian tourism industry after selling its only local property, the Blue Sydney hotel in Woolloomooloo, to Hong Kong-based Ovolo Group for $32 million.
In a deal first foreshadowed by The Australian in May, Ovolo will add the 100-room hotel to its growing Australian collection, after recently buying the boutique Hotel 1888 in nearby Pyrmont.
Ovolo, owned by businessman Girish Jhunjhnuwala, has been buying property in Australia since 2012, when it opened the 43-room Ovolo Melbourne. Earlier this year the company acquired the 4.5-star, 148-room Oaks on Lonsdale from receivers at PPB Advisory for about $70m.
Mr Jhunjhnuwala said the purchases were part of an aggressive brand expansion strategy across Australia.
“They presented a unique opportunity for us to reinforce our presence in the Australian hotel market,” he said.
But while Ovolo is looking to expand in Australia, Taj, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, will turn to China and Dubai for its next developments.
Raymond Bickson, the company’s chief executive, told The Australian the group would consolidate funds and focus on four projects under way in China, including a hotel planned near the World Heritage Temple of Heaven in south Beijing.
“We are selling at a good position, with the (Blue Sydney) having an 85 per cent occupancy level, and already winning many accolades,” Mr Bickson said.
“Australia is an important market in the region, but we’ll be opening in Dubai at the end of the year, and in China, so we have quite a bit going on already.”
Taj Hotels bought the Blue Sydney, then known as The W Hotel, in 2006 for $36m.
Source: The Australian - 11 July 2014
