Hotel Leela is all set to foray into real estate development in order to cut its debt. The conversion of land banks into upmarket residential homes in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune is believed to raise Rs.950 crore for the company.
Vivek Nair vice-chairman of Hotel Leela said this in an interview with a TV channel. “We are in active negotiations with some of the developers. In Pune, we have signed up with the leading residential developer. In and Hyderabad, we are negotiating with the top developers,” he says.
Sharing the company’s plans to help cut down debt their overall debt burden, Nair corroborates, “We are looking at divesting up to 14.9% of the equity if the company. We have a private equity placement through route of about Rs.600 crore. We plan to get about Rs.250 crore for the sale of Leela Business Park and we will raise Rs.950 crore by selling and developing residential land in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Hence, altogether about Rs.1500 crore of debt is being reduced.”
The Group has land banks in Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. In Bangalore, it has a two acre plot right next to our property in that series. “Our attention is not to add another 200 rooms there but 370 is the large number. Therefore, we are planning to develop up market residential homes with a leading developer there. We are in active negotiations with some of the developers. In Pune, we have signed up with the leading residential developer. In and Hyderabad, we are negotiating with the top developers,” he added.
