Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) seems to be on a shopping spree. After grabbing trophy assets in London, RIL is now training its sights on New York.

RIL, the oil-to-retail conglomerate owned by Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has bought the Mandarin Oriental

New York, according to reports. In April 2021, Mukesh Ambani bought Stoke Park estate in Britain, a 300-acre country club in Buckinghamshire, Stoke Park, for 57 million pounds.

RIL has acquired the 248-key luxury New York property via its wholly owned arm, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings (RIIHL), from Columbus Centre Corporation (Cayman), of which an Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) subsidiary is the majority partner, Indian financial daily Economic Times reported.

RIIHL will be paying $98.15 million to acquire 73.37 percent of the hotel.

"Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has today, 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 percent stake in Mandarin Oriental New York, one of the premium luxury hotels in New York City for an equity consideration of approximately $98.15 million," a statement from RIIHL on Saturday said.

Set up in 2003, Mandarin Oriental New York is located at 80 Columbus Circle, directly adjacent to the Central Park and Columbus Circle. It had revenues of $115 million in 2018, $113 million in 2019 and $15 million in 2020. The latest purchase will pit Reliance in direct competition with Tata Group’s Indian Hotels that runs the Pierre, a Taj Hotel, a stone’s throw from the Mandarin property, Economic Times reported.

According to the statement from RIL, the transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2022.

In the event that the other owners of the hotel elect to participate in the sale transaction, RIIHL would acquire the remaining 26.63 percent, based on the same valuation used for the acquisition of the indirect 73.37 percent stake, it said. 

(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Anoop Menon)

(seban.scaria@lseg.com

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