Last checked at 12 Jun 2009 12:41
India Hospitality Corp.
India Hospitality Corp. Seeks Authority to Buy Back Shares
London - 12 June 2009 - India Hospitality Corp. ("IHC" or "the Company") today announces that it has posted a circular to shareholders convening an extraordinary general meeting ("EGM") to seek shareholder approval for the Company to purchase its own shares. The EGM will be held at 10 am New York time on 9 July 2009 at the offices of Proskauer Rose LLP, 1585 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, USA.
The Company's Directors believe that the current trading price of its ordinary shares may be driven by illiquidity and does not reflect the intrinsic value of the shares. It is the Director's expectation that the Company's purchase of Ordinary Shares will enhance Shareholder value and will have a beneficial impact on earnings per Ordinary Share.
If IHC's shareholders grant the above authority, the Company intends to make purchases of its Ordinary Shares either on or off-market and the Company will announce the terms of any buyback purchase as required under AIM Rules.
The Company will only purchase Ordinary Shares where the Directors consider that following any such purchase the Company will continue to have sufficient funding for working capital purposes.
Mechanics of Purchase
The buyback authority sought would permit the Company to purchase its own Ordinary Shares within the following parameters:
(i) the maximum aggregate number of Ordinary Shares authorized to be purchased will be 4,200,000 (representing 14.9% of the total issued Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company in issue);
(ii) the minimum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for each Ordinary Share would be $0.001 per Ordinary Share; and
(iii) the maximum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for such Ordinary Shares would be the higher of:
(a) 5% above the average price at which deals are done in Ordinary Shares, as taken from the AIM Appendix to the London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the five business days before the purchase is made; and
(b) the higher of the price of the last independent trade of an Ordinary Share and the highest current independent bid for an ordinary share as derived from the London Stock Exchange trading systems.
A copy of the circular is available on the Company's website http://www.indiahospitalitycorp.com.
For Further Information Contact:
India Hospitality Corp.
Raghavendra Agarwal
+91-22-40906148
ragarwal@ihcor.com
www.indiahospitalitycorp.com
Nominated Adviser: Grant Thornton UK LLP
Fiona Owen
Tel: +44 20 7383 5100
Media Contact: Mutual Public Relations Ltd.
Harsh Wardhan
+91 11 43620700
Investor Relations Contact: ICR Inc.
William Schmitt
+1 203-682-8200
About India Hospitality Corp.
India Hospitality Corp. is a diversified pan-Indian hospitality and leisure company. In July 2007, IHC closed on the acquisition of India-based Mars Restaurants Private Limited, an emerging hotel and restaurant company, and SkyGourmet Catering Private Limited, an airline catering company with 2,800 employees across its facilities in India, from Navis Capital Partners and its affiliates.