Mukesh Ambani buys Mandarin Oriental New York in $98 million-deal

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will soon be the majority owner of one of the Big Apple's iconic hotels — Mandarin Oriental New York — in Manhattan. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL), a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, will pick up 73.4% stake in the marquee property for $98.1 million, and is open to acquiring 100% stake also in it. The conglomerate is already present in the hospitality space with RIL having about 19% stake in Oberoi Hotels’ flagship company EIH Ltd. Nita Ambani is a non-executive director of EIH. Apart from EIH, Reliance already has investments in, Stoke Park Limited in UK and is developing a convention centre, hotel and managed residences in BKC Mumbai. New York and London are among the destinations where big Indian hotel companies have a key presence. “RIIHL on Saturday entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Columbus Centre Corporation (Cayman), a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and the indirect owner of a 73.37% stake in Mandarin Oriental New York, one of the premium luxury hotels in New York City for an equity consideration of approximately US$ 98.15 million,” RIL said in a BSE filing Saturday. “The closing of the transaction is anticipated to occur by the end of March 2022 and is subject to certain customary regulatory and other approvals and the satisfaction of certain other conditions. In the event that the other owners of the hotel elect to participate in the sale transaction, RIIHL would acquire the remaining 26.63%, based on the same valuation used for the acquisition of the indirect 73.37% stake. Mayer Brown LLP acted as legal counsel for Reliance on the transaction,” RIL BSE filing says. Set up in 2003, Mandarin Oriental New York is an iconic luxury hotel located at 80 Columbus Circle, directly adjacent to Central Park and Columbus Circle. It had revenues of $115 million in 2018, $113 million in 2019 and $15 million in 2020.