Leading vacation ownership company Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. is planning for overseas acquisitions to expand its network of resorts as well as to provide its members more international destinations, a top executive said.
“We are planning for more resorts not only in India but internationally. We are looking at acquisitions in South East Asia, Western Europe and even America if we can,” Kavinder Singh, managing director & CEO, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd., said in an interview.
“We believe that we are uniquely positioned to create a global company by acquiring resorts internationally and also acquiring customers internationally. We want to acquire because there is an opportunity to add members and create unparalleled network of resorts,” he said.
Mahindra Holidays has presence in Dubai, where it has a sales office and has also opened an office in Kenya. The company also has marketing presence in Sri Lanka. “We are looking at tapping more into the NRI segment which would be interested to holiday with us back home,” Mr. Singh said.
‘Sufficient capital’
He said the company, with a cash balance of ₹470 crore, is ‘sufficiently capitalised’ to build its business.
In 2015, the company had acquired Holiday Club Resorts, a company in Finland, where it now owns 95% for approximately €55 million.
Through this company, Mahindra Holidays, which goes by the brand name of Club Mahindra, has access to another 33 resorts (25 in Finland, six in Spain and two in Sweden). Mahindra Holidays, with 2,35,000 members, has 55 resorts in its portfolio, including 51 in India and one each in Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Malaysia.
In India, the company is expanding its capacity and implementing a capital investment plan of ₹500 crore, which will give it an additional capacity of 500 units.
This expansion will get completed will complete in two to three years, after which the company will unveil its next round of domestic growth.
With an occupancy of 85%, the company is expecting a healthy growth this year. In 2015-16 and 2016-17, the company grew by 26% and 14% respectively. In 2017-18 it reported a 14% growth.
Mr. Singh said the market potential was significant and the company could grow 5 fivefold in the coming years. Typically, the company is looking for eyeing customers who are in the age group of 32-35 years with family and earning upwards of ₹15 lakh per year.
