Multinational conglomerate CG Group has plans of taking its hospitality company CG Hospitality Global and The Fern brand public over time, said Rahul Chaudhary, MD, CG Hospitality Global and CG Corp, in an interview with ET.
“We are looking at expanding The Fern brand. One route to expansion is by making investments through the company’s earnings in hotel ownership and revenue share arrangements. We are also embarking on bringing in a strategic partner, preferably, an investor operator, to partner with a minority stake,” he said.
“This is because we want to grow our distribution channel and our footprint all across India. As our EBITDA grows over time in the next two years, we want to take the chain public,” he added.
Chaudhary said the company has a similar strategy for CG Hospitality Global.
“That’s also a similar strategy. We want to have a strategic investor. That’s more from the perspective of institutionalising investments. Thereafter, we will take CG Hospitality to an IPO over the next few years. Both strategies are moving parallelly,” he added.
Concept Hospitality/Fern Hotels is CG Hospitality’s management company.
By 2025, CG Hospitality anticipates operating more than 200 hotels. The company also has plans to launch more safari lodges across India, similar to the ones it has around Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, and Pench national parks, in partnership with IHCL.
CG Hospitality has close to 107 operating hotels in India across over 75 destinations. In Gujarat itself, there are over 25 hotels with brands such as The Fern, Beacon and Zinc.
“We are looking at adding 20–25 hotels every year under the Fern brand; that means adding a hotel every two weeks. We have also embarked on a strategy to add more safari lodges across India, and we will add at least one or two more lodges every year. The safari lodge business is doing phenomenally well. It has taken us close to 14 years to turn that around,” he said.
The company will also bring its holistic medical wellness brand, The Farm, which is currently present in the Philippines, to India over the next few years. It will launch two Taj properties in Bhutan this year. CG Hospitality will also open another hotel in Dubai and has around six hotels under development in Nepal.
“CG Hospitality is already in 180 hotels in 12 countries. We bought the two Fairmont hotels in Kenya, in Nairobi and Masai Mara, before COVID, and that has worked well for us,” he added.
Chaudhary said that unfortunately, India’s strategy for bringing in international tourists hasn’t been that effective considering the size of its population, the attractions, and the locations.
“India needs to get its act right. The current number of tourists is quite low. But, India has done phenomenally well from a domestic travel perspective and in terms of improving infrastructure and connectivity.
“The market dynamics have changed. One of the highest middle class segments is in India, and they are travelling all over,” he said.
“Rates have gone up by 30–40% across the country. Rates are high for resorts and on roads less travelled, and people are willing to travel and pay,” he added.
