Akshay Kumar – Mumbai
Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India have further increased their stakes to 88 per cent in Holiday Club Resort Oy, Finland (HCR). Mahindra Holidays currently owns 23.3 per cent stake in HCR and the balance 12 per cent will be held by the employees and the management. In this second phase of acquisition, Mahindra Holidays acquired a total of 64.7 per cent with an investment of EU 28 million.
Speaking about the acquisition, Arun Nanda, chairman, Mahindra Holidays said, “We are completing the acquisition of the Holiday Club Resort with a deal size of EU 28 million. The investment of the second phase is much less than the first phase. With this acquisition, Mahindra Holidays will become the world’s largest vacation ownership company based outside the United States. One more important reason for the acquisition is that now we have a strategic platform to grow in Europe and the Middle East. The current acquisition is subject to regulations. In the next two months probably all the approvals will be completed and the deal will be closed.”
Speaking about Finland as a destination for Indian travellers Nanda added, “We have a history of creating destinations. Most of the destinations where we are present was quite unexplored. Now this will be our attempt to create Finland as a popular destination amongst the Indian travellers. Finland has a lot to offer like the Northern Lights, The Midnight Sun, etc.”
Nanda also spoke about the possibility of investing EU 10 million as working capital to accelerate the growth of the company in the near future. Holiday Club Resorts Oy is a vacation ownership company in Europe with 32 resorts out of which 24 are located in Finland, two in Sweden and six in Spain.
Kavinder Singh, managing director and CEO, Mahindra Holidays said, “With the increase of stake in Holiday Club, we see a huge potential for synergy between the two market leaders in the areas of technology, new products, and member services. Our 1.83 lakh members will now have an added choice to visit HCR’s resorts in Europe.”