Hotel Leelaventure goes all out to cut Rs 5000 cr debt, sells Goa property for Rs 725 cr

Hospitality chain Hotel Leelaventure has entered into a pact with Malaysia-based MetTube to sell Goa property for a consideration of Rs 725 crore as part of its debt restructuring process. The property will be acquired by Ceres Hotels, a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of MetTube. However, Leelaventure will continue to operate the hotel under Leela brand. “Leelaventure board in a meeting today decided the sale of entire undertaking of the company pertaining to the hotel in Goa, The Leela Goa, on slump sale basis for a consideration of Rs 725 crore”, it said in a statement on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_2149583” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: Flickr[/caption] The hotel would be transferred through business transfer agreement to Ceres Hotels. “The disinvestment of the Goa hotel and retaining the management of the hotel under the Leela brand is in line with our strategy to restructure our debt, follow an asset light model and manage more hotels,” Hotel Leelaventure CMD Vivek Nair said in a statement. The company reportedly had a debt of around Rs 5,000 crore as of March this year. As per the terms of a Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) package, the company had to reduce its debts through sale of assets. “This investment signifies the group’s confidence in building and growing businesses in India,” said MetTube President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Raghav Mittal. Before the sale of hotel in Goa, Hotel Leelaventure had a total portfolio of six company owned and two managed luxury palaces and hotels in India. MetTube is part of the Lord Bagri promoted Metdist Group. PTI