Leela Group to sell part of its property to meet debt
The Leela Group which is the former partner of Kempinski AG in India is in talks to sell some part of its properties in order to pay debt as stated by its chairman Vivek Nair. The group, whose listed unit Hotel Leela Venture Ltd. had a total debt of Rs 5,000 crore ($821 million) as of the month of June, will be setting up special purpose vehicles to sell stakes in three or four hotels.
The aforesaid was stated by Nair in a telephone interview. The company will continue to hold some of the equity in the assets and will operate them on long-term management contracts, he further said. It definitely will not be their entire portfolio since the valuation is much higher than the debt on according to their books as told by Nair.
They did not mention when the process will start for selling the part of their properties. Probably all these will be decided in a meeting and the proceedings will be made available in public so that they get prospect-full buyers. Business groups are selling of their properties these days in order to meet the debt that they have fallen under in this economic time.
Source: Mint
hotel leela venture ltd, Hotel Leela Venture Ltd. had a total debt of Rs 5000 crore, Kempinski AG, Leela Group, Vivek Nair
