<article>Central Plaza Hotel Plc (Centel), a Thailand based hotel and restaurant operator, plans to spend at least 12 billion baht ($365 million) on expansion and renovation during 2015-2020.</article>

Central Plaza Hotel Plc (Centel), a Thailand based hotel and restaurant operator, plans to spend at least 12 billion baht ($365 million) on expansion and renovation during 2015-2020.
“This figure is conservative. We can borrow (from the banks) up to our debt-to-equity ratio, depending on the investment opportunities,” said senior vice president of finance and administration Dr Ronnachit Mahattanapreut.
“If we find out good deals and need more investment capital, we may consider an issue of debenture, or zero coupon, or even set up a Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT),” he said.
Currently, the group operates 45 hotels with 8,585 rooms, of which 15 hotels are owned and 30 hotels are under the management contracts. Out of the total number of hotels under management contracts, 22 hotels are in Thailand and the remaining eight hotels are overseas.
About 32 hotels are under development and are scheduled to start operations between 2015-2017, informed a company official. By 2017, the company would be managing 77 hotels with 15,606 rooms, of which 73% will be managed under contracts and 27% owned to the company.
“In 2015, we plan to build two more luxury hotels in Maldives and are planning to sign management contracts of at least 12 hotels,” he said. The investment will focus more on joint venture in overseas markets, including Myanmar.
It targets to boost the revenue from 18 billion baht in 2014 (eight billion baht from hotels and 10 billion baht from food) to 20 billion baht in 2015 (nine billion baht from hotels and 11 billion baht from food) thanks to the bouncing back of tourism sector in Thailand and its expansion in food business.
The revenue in the first nine months was 13.33 billion baht, an increase of 3.8% year on year. Of that, 7.4 billion baht was generated from food business, up 8.5% from the same period last year. The rest 5.9 billion baht came from hotel business, down 1.5% from the same period last year due to the country’s political turmoil and slowdown in tourism sector.
“We will focus on expanding our restaurant chains by acquiring or through joint venture in the same way that we did with OOTOYA Japanese restaurants, as it gives a quicker turnaround than organic investment,” he explained.
The company is in talks with a few restaurant chains in Asia and Europe at this moment and has allocated an investment budget of 600 million baht for food business.
“We expect to launch at least one new brand next year. We will focus on European or other Asian food, except Japanese The market for Japanese restaurant here is full and it’s difficult to grow,” he added.
<pre>Image:<a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Office_and_Stationer_g145-_Folder_Concept_p24689.html">Freedigitalpictures.net</a></pre>

Thailand's Central to invest $365m in 5 years

Bring stories like this into your inbox every day.

Sign up for our newsletter - The Daily Brief

Thailand's Central to invest $365m in 5 years

Start your deal-making journey now!

Bring stories like this into your inbox every day.

Sign up for our newsletter - The Daily Brief