New Delhi, Feb. 14 -- Shares of recently-listed ITC Hotels declined over 3% in intra-day trade on Friday, February 14, after British American Tobacco Plc (BAT), the biggest shareholder after ITC, said it will pare its stake in the hotels business by next year.

Tadeu Marroco, Chief Executive Officer, BAT in an earnings call said that BAT has no interest in becoming a long-term shareholder of a hotel chain in India. He added that the company will look for the right moment to divest in order to ensure maximum shareholder value.

"We will be divesting, and we will be using proceeds to make sure that we get to the leverage corridor of two and a half and two by 2026," Marroco said.

According to the latest shareholding pattern filed by the com...