Check out Mandarin Oriental New York, the 5-star hotel that Reliance is buying for $98.15 million

Reliance Industries Ltd is acquiring a controlling stake in Mandarin Oriental New York, a five-star hotel in midtown Manhattan, for a cost of $98.15 million. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd entered into an agreement with the hotel's Cayman Islands-based indirect owner Columbus Centre Corp.

Columbus Centre Corp held a 73.37 per cent stake in the Mandarin Oriental New York is expected to add to the RIL's consumer and hospitality activities. The transaction is expected to be sealed by end of March 2022. RIL said that if the remaining stakeholders of the hotel wanted to offload their stake, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd was willing to pick up the remaining 26.63 per cent based on the same valuation.

According to Reliance, the acquisition of the Mandarin Oriental New York hotel will enable it to increase its consumer and hospitality footprint. Let's take a closer look at the Mandarin Oriental New York:

* Set up in 2003, Mandarin Oriental New York is located directly adjacent to the iconic Central Park.

* The Mandarin Oriental New York has won several prestigious awards which includes the AAA Five Diamond Hotel, Forbes Five Star Spa and Forbes Five Star Hotel, among others.

* The Mandarin Oriental New York has 244 luxurious hotel rooms. Suite sizes range from 800 square feet to 2640 square feet.

* The Mandarin Oriental New York has 6,000 square-foot ballrooms. The ballroom has 18-foot high floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking landmarks like Central Park and Manhattan.

* Room rates begin from $745 a night for the Hudson River View room and go all the way up to $14,000 a night for the Oriental suite. And then there is a Presidential Suite, prices of which are not publically available.

* The revenues, however, took a major hit, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic period. While in 2018 and 2019, Mandarin Oriental New York had revenue of $115 million and $113 million respectively, the five-star hotel turned up with a mere $15 million revenue in 2020.