Radisson's shares underwritten by 21 financial institutions

By a staff reporter

Four prominent banks and seventeen leading finance companies have fully underwritten the public issue of shares of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, the country’s latest Five Star Hotel, which is issuing shares to general public starting next Wednesday (July 25, 2000).

This is the first time that so many financial institutions have showed their interest in underwriting the public issue of any company in Nepal. Last year, when Taragaon Rgency Hotel issued its shares to general public it also received similar response from the financial institutions. Then four banks underwrote public issue of its shares worth Rs. 160 million.

According to a Hotel source, banks which have agreed to underwrite the shares of the Hotel are Bank of Kathmandu, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nepal Bank of Ceylon and Nepal Development Bank.

Similarly, the seventeen finance companies that have trusted to invest at the Hotel are Alpic Everest Finance Ltd., Annapurna Finance Ltd., Goodwill Finance and Investment Co. Ltd., Kathmandu Finance Ltd., Lalitpur Finance Co. Ltd., Lumbini finance and Leasing Co. Ltd., Mahalaxmi Finance Ltd., National Finance Co. Ltd., Nepal Finance and Saving Co. Ltd., Nepal Merchant Banking and Financing Ltd., NIDC Capital Markets Ltd., Peoples Finance Ltd., Premier Finance Co. Ltd., Standard Finance and Leasing Co. Ltd., Universal Finance and Capital Markets Ltd. and Yeti Finance Ltd.

The Hotel is issuing 1.25 million pieces of shares at Rs. 100 each totalling Rs. 125 million, that is almost twenty-five percent of the total investment.

"Underwriting of shares by financial institutions is providing guarantee to subscribe our shares if in case the public do not subscribe it," said B. K. Shrestha, Managing Director of the Hotel. "It also indicates that those financial institutions have placed trust on this Hotel," he further added.

"There is room to hope that the share issue will be highly successful," Managing Director Shrestha said while asked about the response of the general public. When Taragaon Regency, Nepal’s biggest hotel, offered public issue shares were sold as a hot cake through out the country through seventy-five outlets. Then it’s shares were oversubscribed by almost eighteen times.

In the past eighteen months of operation, the Hotel has also shown promising trend. In the first eight months of operation it generated an operating cost of Rs. 1.8 million. The Hotel management hopes to make profit as high as Rs. 150 million during the current year.

"Though the Hotel has already been operating in a profit, the shares are being issued at the par value of Rs. 100 each without charging a premium," Shrestha said.

Necon to fly to more destinations

By a staff reporter

The most successful private sector airline operator, Necon Air, has been permitted to operate flights to New Delhi and Calcutta of India.

The only private sector airline of Nepal to fly to India, Necon Air has already been conducting regular flights to Patna and Benaras. With this permission to fly to New Delhi and Calcutta, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has also given permission to the company to bring in another ATR 42 aircraft. Necon Air has already got two ATR 42 in its fleet.

Both the new destinations in India are believed to be highly profitable. At the same time, addition of regular flights connecting these destinations are also very important for the Nepal’s tourism industry. The private sector airline operators are demanding for such profitable destinations ever since the government resorted to open air policy and permitted private sector to fly to the international sector.

Besides its regular flights to various places in Nepal, Necon Air presently operates five regular flights a week to Patna and three flights a week to Benaras.

Still, smooth as silk!

By a staff reporter

THAI was voted among the best airlines in the world for its product development and service delivery according to the first global airlines ranking, air-quality and survey conducted by the In-flight Research Survey (IRS), based in Oxford England.

The results of it were published in the June, 2000 issue of the Orient Aviation monthly magazine says a THAI press release. The ranking system took one year to prepare and the rating was done among 150 airlines worldwide. This on-line survey received feedback from approximately 1,50,000 respondents. The results of which were analysed and then refined by the opinions of Travel Panel member’s worldwide. According to the IRS Managing Director Plaisted these seven 5-star airlines achieve the best ranking because they offer the highest standard of products, quality across all travel sectors and deliver consistently top level of employee service delivery on board and at the airports, which they serve.

The new ranking system is based on evaluation of the quality front line products and service quality performance of airlines during flights and at the airports. The ranking system is drawn from IRS’s comparative evaluation models. The research model assesses product quality and service on a side by side basis between airlines and across all classes. In the air-conditioned cabin, many of aspects of airlines individual service and product innovations were tracked and analysed by the surveys statistical models. In-flight Research Survey conducted individual checks on individual carriers and more than 500 points are included in the detailed evaluation.