India Business Journal - BAT looks to sell stake worth Rs 776 million in ITC Hotels to slash debt

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BAT looks to sell stake worth Rs 776 million in ITC Hotels to slash debt

IBJ Bureau
Dec 05, 2025

British American Tobacco (BAT) plans to offload its stake worth about $776 million in ITC Hotels, the company has, as it looks to reduce debt and exit a non-strategic asset.

The maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes has added that it intends to sell between 7 per cent and its entire 15.3 per cent stake in ITC Hotels through an accelerated book-building process.

BAT is the second-biggest shareholder in ITC Hotels, according to LSEG data. It had inherited the stake through its shareholding in ITC, which had spun off its hotels business in January.

“A direct stake in ITC Hotels is not a strategic holding for BAT,” CEO Tadeu Marroco has said in a statement.

The final number of shares sold will be determined to optimise the overall pricing outcome to the group, BAT has said in a statement.

Its roughly 15 per cent holding is currently valued at about $776 million, according to a Reuters’ calculation.

In a bid to cut its leverage, BAT has also been steadily reducing its stake in ITC. In May, it had sold $1.5 billion worth of shares in ITC and $2 billion last year, in two of the biggest block deals in India.

ITC Hotels competes with EIH, parent of Oberoi-branded hotel, and Indian Hotels, which owns the Taj brand. Its portfolio spans luxury to mid-scale segments across six brands.