New Delhi, April 7 The Competition Commission of India (CCI), the regulator for fair trade, approved Warburg Pincus' proposal to acquire a stake in Fleur Hotels Ltd, a subsidiary of Lemon Tree Hotels, on Tuesday.
The approval came after Lemon Tree Hotels announced in January 2026 that its board had approved Warburg Pincus' acquisition of a 41.09% stake held by APG Strategic Real Estate Pool NV in its subsidiary, Fleur Hotels, along with a proposed investment of ₹960 crore in installments.
The competition watchdog also cleared the internal restructuring of the Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd group through amalgamation and demerger.
"The proposed combination involves the acquisition of certain equity shares by Coastal Cedar Investments BV (Coastal) in Fleur Hotels Ltd (FHL) and the internal restructuring of the Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd (LTH) group through amalgamation and demerger," the CCI said in a statement.
Coastal is an investment holding company and is wholly owned and managed by the US-based Warburg Pincus Group, while Lemon Tree Hotels is a hospitality company.
Under the scheme, Lemon Tree will merge two of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Carnation Hotels and Hamstede Living, with itself. Four wholly-owned subsidiaries of Lemon Tree, Oriole Dr Fresh, Sukhsagar Complexes, Manakin Resorts and Canary Hotels, will be merged with Fleur in exchange for shares issued by Fleur to Lemon Tree.
"CCI approves the acquisition of certain equity shares by Coastal Cedar Investments BV in Fleur Hotels Ltd and the internal restructuring of Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd group through amalgamation and demerger," the regulator said in a post on X.
Fleur Hotels is a subsidiary of LTH, which owns and leases hotels directly and through its subsidiaries.
Ila Dubey, Lillette Dubey, Spank Management Services Pvt Ltd, and Sparrow Buildwell Pvt Ltd are promoters or part of the promoter group of Lemon Tree Hotels.
In January this year, Lemon Tree said that the strategic reorganization and investment from Warburg in Fleur will unlock long-term shareholder value by creating two focused, high-growth, and large-scale platforms.
The proposed reorganization will create two differentiated and complementary platforms: Lemon Tree Hotels, as a pure-play, asset-light hotel management and brand platform, and Fleur Hotels, as a large-scale growth-oriented hotel ownership platform with development capabilities and an attractive pipeline.
This investment marks a renewed partnership between Warburg and Lemon Tree, following Warburg's earlier investment in the company in 2006, which supported the latter's initial growth.
The scheme will also result in the listing of Fleur's shares on NSE and BSE. Patanjali Govind Keswani, Founder of Lemon Tree Hotels, will serve as the Executive Chairman of Fleur Hotels and will eventually transition to a Non-Executive role at Lemon Tree.
After the transaction, Fleur will become one of the largest owners of hospitality assets in India. Its owned portfolio will expand significantly, increasing from 3,993 keys and 24 operating hotels to 5,813 keys across 41 hotels, Lemon Tree said.
Deals exceeding a certain threshold require approval from the regulator, which monitors unfair business practices as well as promotes fair competition in the marketplace.
