DLF Ltd is selling Silverlink Resorts Ltd, the holding company for the luxury hospitality group Aman Resorts, in a management buyout transaction. It is being sold back to its founder and chairman Adrian Zecha, at an enterprise value of $300 million. The deal, which has been in the making for long, is one among the key non-core assets put on the block by the debt-laden DLF, India’s largest listed property developer.
The deal is expected to close by the end of February 2013, DLF said in a statement to the stock exchanges. DLF scrip was up 1.1 per cent, quoting at Rs 226 a share on the BSE in mid-day trades in a strong Mumbai market on Wednesday.
Although there have been reports for more than a year on the impending sale of Aman Resorts, VCCircle had first reported in June this year that the deal is in the final leg and is expected to be valued at around $300-350 million.
Earlier reports had suggested several suitors including a member of the Saudi royal family, China-based HNA Group, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, luxury fashion group Louis Vuitton and Kingdom Holdings, which owns the five star hotel chain Four Seasons.
Aman Resorts has 25 assets across Thailand, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, France, Indonesia, Laos, Montenegro, Morocco, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the US.
It has three properties in India, but the latest sellout does not include the property in Delhi. The other two assets are in Rajasthan, called the Aman-i-Khas and Amanbagh, which will exchange hands.
DLF had acquired Aman Resorts five years ago, in a deal with an enterprise value of around $400 million.
Adrian Zecha is an Indonesian hotelier who has also founded Regent International.
Last month, DLF completed another transaction with Lodha Developers in a deal worth Rs 2,700 crore ($488 million), which would help the realtor deleverage its debt-heavy balance sheet. Post this transaction, its net debt came down to Rs 21,220 crore as on November 14, compared to Rs 23,220 crore as of September 30, 2012.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
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