The final auction took place after two unsuccessful auctions, in which no one had registered their interest in buying the property. (Image: James Hotel)Eros Group, a Delhi-based corporate group which deals in real estate and hospitality sector, purchased Hotel James situated at Sector 17 for Rs. 150 crore in an e-auction. Hotel James had been under high debt of PNB and UBI and the National Company Law Tribunal, Chandigarh, had ordered the commencement of its liquidation in October 2018.
The final auction took place after two unsuccessful auctions, in which no one had registered their interest in buying the property. Sources maintained that the heavy reserved prices – Rs. 210 crore at the time of the first auction and Rs. 190 at the time of second auction – had deterred the bidders from showing interest. This time, the reserved price had been lowered than earlier and a liquidator, appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in 2019, invited the bidders for the auction.
Eros Group CFO Y Dhawan said, “We have undertaken Hotel James. We had participated in the e-auction, which took place in January. The sale took place in March. We paid Rs. 150 crore. The liquidator, who was deputed by the court, has handed over the letter of successful bidder to us. Eros Group now has the ownership of the hotel. Due to lockdown and Covid-19 some proceedings were stopped. Hotel James is operational. It is the first kind of venture in the hospitality sector in this region for Eros Group.”
Liquidator Navneet Gupta was not available for comments on the auction.
In 2007, the promoters of Hotel James Ltd had procured a loan of Rs. 85 crore from PNB and UBI, but had stopped paying the installments in 2014. PNB had declared Hotel James Ltd a defaulter and issued a notice against it in 2015. In 2016, the then DC Ajit Balaji Joshi had issued directions to PNB to take possession of the hotel. In October 2018, NCLT issued directions to the liquidator, Navneet Gupta, for the auction of the hotel.