The promoters of East India Hotels Ltd, part of the Oberoi group, are in advanced talks with several corporate houses and private equity firms to sell a part of their stake, the Business Standard paper reported.
Reliance Industries Ltd through various associate companies is one of the front runners, and talks between both groups are at an advanced stage, the paper said on Thursday, citing investment banking sources.
Although PRS Oberoi, chairman of EIH and a Reliance spokeswoman denied to the paper that Reliance was in the race to pick up stake, the paper said Oberoi confirmed EIH was in discussions with various investors, though nothing was finalised.
Officials at both Reliance Industries and EIH were not reachable for comments.
The deal is expected to be signed at a substantial premium over EIH's market price because the underlying value of the assets is much higher than the firm's market capitalisation of 55 billion rupees.
Source: Reuters