Foreign investor walks out of Nepse-listed Soaltee Hotel

 Though the stable government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is trying to lure foreign investors, one of the foreign investor walked out of the country selling its shares.

Soaltee Enterprises has bought all the shares from an international company InterContinental Hotels Group to make the Nepse-listed Soaltee Crowne Plaza hotel a complete Nepali entity. Soaltee Enterprises – owned by former King Gyanendra Shah and his family – bought some 8.43 million units of shares at Rs 56.06 per unit totaling Rs 472.34 million worth transaction, according to the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) floor sheet. The shares of the Soaltee Hotels is being traded at Rs 190 per unit at the share market currently. According to the Nepse, the bulk shares transfer took place today through broker 33 and 34.

Along with this purchase of shares from InterContinental Hotels Group, the Soaltee Hotel is now totally owned by only Nepali investors, confirmed one of the oldest five-star hotel in Nepal. The Hong Kong-based InterContinental Hotels Group had 10 per cent stake in Soaltee Hotel.

The shares of Soaltee Hotel that were in the ownership of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) were transferred to Soaltee Enterprises. After the share transfer, Soaltee Enterprises now owns 50 per cent stake in Soaltee hotel, whereas Oberoi Hotels Pvt Ltd holds eight per cent shares, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) holds 12 per cent shares while the remaining 30 per cent stake is held by the public, as Soaltee Hotel is one of the listed hotels at the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse).

Founded by late prince Himalaya Bir Bikram Shah Dev and late princess Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah in 1965, Soaltee Crowne Plaza was formally inaugurated by late king Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1966 with 104 rooms. But today Soaltee Crowne Plaza hosts 282 luxurious guest rooms and seven regal VVIP suites, spread over 12 acres.

In 1969, the Soaltee hotel was incorporated as a private limited company. Oberoi Hotels (India) Pvt Ltd, with its investment in shares capital, was entrusted with operational management of the hotel and rebranded as ‘Hotel Soaltee Oberoi’ in 1969. 

However, the hotel was converted into a public limited company in 1975 with an investment in the shares capital of the company by Nepal Industrial Development Corporation (NIDC), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Oberoi Hotels (India) Pvt Ltd, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), promoters and the public. The shares of the hotel was listed at the share market with a face value of Rs 10 per unit.

Likewise, in 1994 the hotel was again renamed Soaltee Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Kathmandu and was operated by Holiday Inns China, a fully owned subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels (IHG).

But in 1998, Soaltee Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza was again rebranded as Soaltee Crowne Plaza Kathmandu.

RBB, NIDC merger talks gathers momentum

The merger process between state-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and NIDC Development Bank has once again gathered speed.
The separate merger committees formed by both the banks have agreed to form a joint merger committee led by joint secretary of the Finance Ministry Nirmal Hari Adhikari.
"We have formed a joint merger committee, which will be responsible for finalising all the merger related issues,” said RBB chief executive officer Kiran Shrestha. "The committee has set a target to finalise the merger process by October 17 this year," he said, adding that the long Dashain vacation in between will surely affect the merger process. "We will do our best to meet the deadline."
Earlier, the individual merger committees formed by the two banks has finalised a first draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. They have now given the authority to finalise the MoU to the joint merger committee.
The banks have yet not yet discussed into technical issues of the merger like capital ratio and management of employees. "Technical issues are yet to be solved," Shrestha added.
NIDC has already finalised the Due Diligence Audit (DDA) to begin the merger process with RBB. RBB has also already calculated its net worth before starting the merger process.
Expecting merger soon, the Finance Ministry has asked NIDC Development Bank not to extend the agreement of the staffs, who have been hired on contract basis. The ministry has – issuing  a letter on May 7 – also asked NIDC not to appoint any new staff on contract.
A cabinet meeting on January 27 had also urged both the institutions to expedite the merger process. A committee that had been formed under the leadership of former secretary Prithvi Raj Ligal had also suggested NIDC to merge with RBB or to establish itself as an investment bank in collaboration with Hydropower Investment and Development Company.
The RBB has, however, planned to widen its branch network after the merger process is completed. The bank, which already has a presence in 68 districts with a network of 166 branches, has planned to add 43 new branches.
The RBB has paid-up capital of Rs 8.5 billion and NIDC has Rs 650 million.