Warburg Pincus to invest Rs 210 cr in Delhi's Lemon Tree Hotels

New Delhi, July 31 (UNI) Lemon Tree Hotels, a hotel chain in moderate price category, today announced that leading global private equity firm Warburg Pincus will invest Rs 210 crore in the company.

The investment will be used to expand the Lemon Tree network and enhance the company's pan-India presence.

''This investment provides an impetus to our long-term objective of establishing as one of India's leading hotel chains in the upscale, full-service and moderately priced category,'' Lemon Tree Hotels Chairman and Managing Director Patu Keswani said.

The New Delhi-based company has two operating hotels in Gurgaon and will launch two more in Pune and Goa this year. Seven more hotels are under development across India.

On completion of all the ongoing projects in 2008, the company expects to have a strong presence across 10 major Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Commenting on the investment, Warburg Pincus Head of Communications Julie Johnson Staples said, ''We believe that the budget and moderately priced hotel segments in India presents a large and untapped opportunity and we are very excited about this partnership.'' Warburg Pincus is also investing Rs 70 crore in Red Fox Hotels, a new company promoted by Mr Keswani, which proposes to set-up limited service, economy hotels across India.

UNI PKS CS DB2021