Delta Corp to focus on gaming, hospitality biz


Delta Corp, which recently sold its Prabhadevi land for Rs Rs 250 crore to ICICI Lombard, plans to invest part of the money in gaming and hospitality business.

In an exclusive interview to Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC-TV18, Hardik Dhebar, Group CFO of Delta Corp said the company is looking at replicating its Goa model in Daman as well as Sikkim. "We are going to be focusing completely on the gaming and the hospitality space where there is a lot of excitement," he added.


Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the video.

Q: Have you guys decided what to do with this Rs 250 crore that you raised from the sale of property?

A: Yes, as I had mentioned some days ago to you itself that the idea is very clear that once we get this liquidity from the real estate business that we are looking to exit out of this one particular property. We are going to be focusing completely on the gaming and the hospitality space where there is a lot of excitement and we are very kicked up about the whole gaming space per se. The plans are there and we know what actual assets are going to get created out of these.

Q: On the gaming front, would that include setting up the casino in Daman or any other casino properties that you are setting up for purchasing just to utilize those proceeds?

A: The gamut is going to be much larger and vaster. While we definitely want to cover the Goa imprint, as we have always been mentioning, Daman and Sikkim are going to be the next destinations Sikkim, though a little bit farfetched, but I think the region per se when I say the region as in places like Sri Lanka, Mauritius and in the South Asian region are very exciting in terms of the gaming space.

In addition to that, we have East Africa presence where gaming is quite a bit established industry. There are about 19-20 casinos operational in Nairobi, Kenya. That also is an area that we are looking at. We are very excited with the type of opportunities that are available to us and hence gaming is something going to be very promising in the near future.

Q: There has been some talk that you may use part of the proceeds to consolidate your 35% holding in Advani Hotels. Is that part of the plan—to utilize this cash to take your holding there above 51% eventually?

A: Hospitality has been an area, which we are focusing on and looking at and it is synergistic to the gaming space but I think commenting on market speculation is not something which we as management would like to do.

source;moneycontrol