Lemon Tree pumps in Rs. 1,000 cr to ramp up room capacity.

Mid-scale hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels is investing Rs. 1,000 crore to ramp up room capacity from 2,800 to 8,000 across the country by the end of 2017.

In the first phase, about 1,200 rooms will be added in a year. Capital infusion

Lemon Tree has recently received Rs. 300 crore from Dutch pension fund APG, increasing APG's shareholding in the hotel chain from 5.66 per cent to 13 per cent.

This is in addition to the Rs. 650-crore APG invested in Lemon Tree in 2012. The fresh infusion of capital will be used for development of the company's under-construction assets and also for acquiring land for developing new hotels. The other three investors in Lemon Tree Hotels are global private equity firm Warburg Pincus, Japan's Shinsei Bank and Kotak Realty Fund.

'We are the country's third largest hotel chain that owns and operates rooms after Tata's IHCL (Indian Hotels Company, the No. 1) and ITC Hotels.

Our ramp-up will include rooms in our upscale brand Lemon Tree Premier, mid-scale brand Lemon Tree Hotels and economy brand Red Fox,' said Sumant Jaidka, COO.

HBL