The acquisition was proposed to be carried out through Oriental Hotels, a leading hotel chain of the Tatas, which would have held the controlling stake in Radisson. IHCL could have taken management control of the Radisson group, with Taj added to its name.

The 104 room capacity Radisson Hotels, is of strategic importance to IHCL as it is close to the airport, and is thus of great interest to the Tatas.Indian Hotels has already got a strong presence in Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad and is also looking at acquiring properties in five states in India, namely Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

In Gujarat, the Taj group has a 20-year management contract with the Royal Manor Hotel and Industries for its five star hotel, Sofitel Ummed in Ahmedabad. However, it does not own property in Gujarat.

On the overseas front, the company plans to acquire properties in Manhattan following the collapse of the Carlyle acquisition. Moreover, with the funds invested in the proposed deal, the company plans to retire the loan of $35 million syndicated by Citibank for the same purpose. The company is also looking at gaining a visible quality presence in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto in addition to UK and Europe. The company is undergoing a restructuring exercise in order to trim the number of intermediaries within the group.

In the recent past, Indian Hotels had entered into an alliance with the GVK group in Hyderabad, which resulted in the creation of a new associated company, Taj GVK Resorts and Hotels Ltd. This company now operates three hotels in Hyderabad - the Taj Krishna, a luxury hotel, Taj Residency and Taj Banjara, business hotels - which was earlier operated by the company under a license arrangement.

Indian Hotels is the largest chain in India comprising of 62 properties aggregating about 5,700 rooms across the globe. It operates luxury or premium hotels at major metros and tourist destinations.