19.3.13

YoHo


In a first of its kind venture, Manipal Education and Medical Group is launching a chain of branded youth hostels that will offer premium student living facilities on campuses in India and abroad through a new independent brand, Yoho.
The 60-year-old education and healthcare company will invest over Rs.1,000 crore in the new venture to build about 20,000 rooms in the first three years.
“It is a low-cost hotel with 90% occupancy,” said Ranjan Pai, the managing director and chief executive officer of Manipal Education and Medical Group. “Globally student-living is seen as a non-core activity within universities; this creates an opportunity for a venture like Yoho,” he said. Group company Manipal Integrated Services, which raised a first round of private equity funding of Rs.100 crore, will drive the Yoho brand, with the first hostels due to open in July. By the year end, the company plans to set up about 5,000 rooms on campuses in Jaipur, Bangalore and Manipal. “We are developing ourselves as a specialist company in managing campuses,” Chandraketu Jha, CEO of Manipal Integrated Services, said. “This way universities will be able to concentrate on teaching.”
The Yoho rooms will offer amenities such as Internet, restaurants, televisions, air conditioning, housekeeping and waste management that will distinguish it from regular college hostels.
Experts say student accommodation, which is a multi-billion dollar market in the US alone, offers non-cyclical income to investors while providing high occupancy levels and low rental default.

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