General reshuffle

Taking advantage of good times is immensely important, especially at this point of time in the hospitality industry. Plagued by a mixture o...

Taking advantage of good times is immensely important, especially at this point of time in the hospitality industry. Plagued by a mixture of global anxieties and local disasters, hotels in India have been having a reasonably grim time over the last few years. It is no wonder then that Biki Oberoi is determined to encash in on the current feel good factor in the industry and across the economy. It has come as a bit of a blow recently that one of his most senior executives has defected to one of the two group hotels that could be considered serious domestic competition. So now he8217;s scrambling to ensure that his remaining generals are deployed appropriately across the vast network of hotels that he manages and owns.

But, even this little tremor in the system, has not deterred Oberoi8217;s determination and confidence that reshuffling his pool of talented managers will ensure both continuity and growth. Local competition is hotting up with the entry of both the Four Seasons chain and the Shangrila group into the already crowded domestic market. The fact that two of the next generation of the Oberois will soon be ready to take on bigger responsibilities, must come as additional comfort to a tycoon whose immense attention to detail and growth plans never seem to cease.

Printing it over

In a strange reversal of roles, Ashwin Dani, finds himself part owner of the company that once looked like it would acquire his family firm Asian Paints. Getting hold of nearly 10 per cent not exactly that, so that no take over clauses became applicable of global giant ICI8217;s Indian operations, thanks to government sale of shares, was rather sudden. Sweet revenge? Hardly. Dani has in recent years acquired a reputation of being a somewhat takeover tycoon on the prowl. Of course, as is expected, he protests that this is not in the same category. It8217;s a different matter that ICI has been plagued by problems over the last several decades and that Asian Paints would find it an extremely interesting company to take into its fold, at the right price. Despite the fact that Dani may find that the Rs 77 crore that he has invested may not get him a seat on the ICI board yet, this is a man who knows how to wait patiently. Given the fact that ICI8217;s global parent has a comfortable 50 plus per cent share on the company, there is an air of nervousness about what the tycoon8217;s plans could be. One thing is certain that he will not be happy as a mere investor in the long run. Not at this price at least, and not in a market where the money he has invested could find far better uses, unless of course it provides some strategic leverage.

Why Nadar Knows

ONE of India8217;s wealthiest InfoTech tycoons, HCL8217;s promoter Shiv Nadar, is now a rather devoted California resident. But here is one man who is not fazed, in the least by the election of grope-monster Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California, after the recent highly visible elections. And the reason? He believes that, it8217;s not an electoral anomaly, but a natural corollary to the fact that large numbers of California8217;s most affluent citizens are from Tamil Nadu. All thanks to the huge IT influx which has taken place over the years. After all, Nadar says, we must not forget we Tamils elected 8216;foreign8217; filmstars as heads of state, long before the Americans had even thought of it.

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