Emirati business tycoon plans to acquire Leela Hotels

Emirati business tycoon Rashid Al-Habtoor has expressed interest in buying the Leela Group of Hotels in India with an equity infusion of about USD 600 million (about INR 4,200 crore). The offer has been made in a letter addressed to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the hotel.

Al-Habtoor has offered to make the investment through the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) route and pay the entire debt of the lender institutions as well as Asset Reconstruction Company. This could amount to approximately USD 600 million which will also include the open offer to the public for acquisition of their shares as SEBI norms. 

Al-Habtoor, who had recently visited India said in the letter, “We understand that time is of the essence and the entire transaction has to be completed by March 31. We are therefore conducting a macro due diligence of the company." 

"Simultaneously, our legal team will work on the binding documents required for the transaction which can be executed on completion of due diligence procedures," he further said in the letter which also addressed Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of SBI, the lender to the hotel, Vivek Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Leelaventure and Anil Bhatia, Managing Director and CEO of JM Financial Asset Restructuring Company (JMARC).

Leelaventure Board had approved an enabling resolution in June last year that would allow it to transfer a majority stake to JMARC. 

Enclosing the details of their net worth, Al-Habtoor said his representative team would be pleased to visit India to meet Jaitley in order to take this forward. 

The offer letter is valid for only seven days from Jan 15 and could be extended by request from the receivers and written approval from their side.

Leelaventure has hotels in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Gurugram and Bengaluru. It currently has a debt of about INR 3,000 crore.