Taj Mansingh to go under the hammer on June 19

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

Capital’s iconic luxury hotel Taj Mansingh will go under the hammer on June 19, according to the new dates announced by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The auction of the hotel was postponed by the NDMC a number of times after the first tender was brought out in December last year. Prospective bidders had objected to certain terms and conditions in the tender as a result of which it had lapsed.

Apparently, the NDMC has brought about some changes in the new tender and the interested parties can now submit their bids between May 18 and June 7.

The NDMC will conduct a site review on April 25 and May 10, following which a pre-bid meeting would be held on May 11. The e-auction will be facilitated by MSTC and SBI Capital Markets will be the transaction adviser.

The bidders had earlier objected to a condition that restricted the winner from making any structural changes to the property. There was also objection over another clause which was restrictive in nature as it insisted that bidders must have a five-star hotel brand as well as at least 500 rooms across three properties.

Besides, the tender conditions said two bidders must not have a cross-holding of 5 per cent and beyond between them.

ITC Hotels owns 14.98 per cent in EIH (Oberoi Hotels) and as such the two while being interested in bidding for the hotel could not have done it.

Tata group’s Indian Hotels, the current operator of 292-room Taj Mansingh, had signed a lease agreement with the NDMC in 1976 and the hotel was inaugurated two years later.

In 2011, the 33-year-old lease ended and that is when the NDMC decided to auction the property, which was challenged by the Indian Hotels in the Delhi High Court. Finally, the Supreme Court approved the auction last April.