Aman Resorts sale to help trim debt, not fund launches: DLF

With a debt of around Rs 23,200 crore on its books, India’s largest real estate major DLF will use the Rs 1,600 crore proceeds from its stake sale in Aman Resorts to repay a part of the debt.

Saurabh Chawla, Executive Director DLF, in an interview with CNBC-TV18, confirmed that the money incurred from the deal would not be used for launches but to trim its debt.

Aman Resorts, with assets including 22 hotels in 12 countries, has been on the block for around two years and has now been finally sold back to its founder and chairman Adrian Zecha. However, DLF will retain Aman Resorts’ flagship Lodhi Hotel property in New Delhi.

DLF had appointed Goldman Sachs and Citibank to find us the best buyers. Even though there were other suitors for the deal, Adrian Zecha proved to be the best, said Chawla.

In August, DLF sold a piece of land in central Mumbai to Lodha Developers Ltd for Rs2,700 crore as part of its strategy to sell non-core assets and reduce its debt.

The company is also progressing in its divestment programme with plans to sell its wind business. Chawla confirmed that they are fully focussed to complete the deal and it might be done within the current fiscal itself.