The US-based luxury hotel chain Orient Express Hotels (OEH), which had rejected Indian Hotels' offer for an alliance, has proposed an Indian-origin restaurant entrepreneur, Mr Harsha V. Agadi, as an independent director.
OEH had kicked up a major controversy three-and-a-half-years ago by turning down a partnership with the Tata Group's Indian Hotels because the latter was a “predominantly Indian” organisation.
In a statement issued late last night, OEH announced that it was nominating Mr Agadi, Chairman and CEO of US-based Friendly Ice Cream Corporation and a graduate from Mumbai University, as an independent director.