Tatas' St James Court hotel on the block

The Taj group of hotels has decided to put its St James Court property in London on the block.

The four-star hotel is one of the first international properties owned by the Taj group and is held through Taj International, the Hong Kong-based arm of Indian Hotels Company. Taj International owns St James Court, a separate company, through a complex structure.

Confirming the development, R K Krishna Kumar, the outgoing managing director of Indian Hotels, said, "Yes, we are looking at unlocking value from the St James Court property."

Krishna Kumar said the group was still keen on managing the property, and hence could eventually hold a token stake in it if it managed to work out such a deal.

He added that the proceeds of the sale of the equity in St James Court hotel would be used to fund the Taj group's acquisition plan overseas. "We are keen on acquiring properties, and these could be in the US," Kumar said.

The St James Court hotel has not been faring well in the last few years and the recession following the September 11 attack and the mad cow disease in the UK did not help either. As a result, the company remained in the red till last year.

Over the last three years, the Taj group has been through a major restructuring of its international operations.

In the first stage, it sold two large hotels in New York and Chicago and some smaller ones in Washington.

It put in a bid to take over the premium Carlyle Hotel in New York, but the bid failed following the Indian Hotels Company's inability to garner the cash for the acquisition.

The group is still looking at acquiring more properties in the US, in gateway cities across the world and even a small international hotel chain.

The Taj group also has been recasting its holding structure for the South Asian properties, and has bought in a strategic investor for one such holding firm.

In both the international and domestic markets, Indian Hotels has decided to focus on premium properties. In India, it has been hiving off other classes of hotels to its subsidiaries.