Business News Desk – Brookfield Asset Management’s Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts is preparing to file draft papers for an IPO soon. According to Moneycontrol, this could be the biggest IPO ever in India’s hotel sector. As this luxury hospitality chain is looking to raise Rs 5,000 crore.
According to the report, this is a big issue for the hospitality sector. An application will soon be made to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in this regard. The primary component is Rs 3,000 crore, which will be used for capital increase. The secondary component is Rs 2,000 crore, in which promoter Brookfield wants to reduce its stake. 11 investors including Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Axis Capital, Citi, ICICI Securities, IIFL Capital, Motilal Oswal and SBI Caps will manage the share sale.
In March 2019, Toronto-based Brookfield bought four properties of Leela in Delhi, Bangalore, Udaipur and Chennai from JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company for Rs 3,950 crore. Since then, Leela Palaces has put the business back on the growth track. The Canadian firm’s IPO will not include Leela Palaces Mumbai. It is already listed as Hotel LeelaVenture Ltd (HLV).
Ankur Gupta, Asia Pacific and Middle East head of Brookfield’s real estate group, said the Canadian firm’s investment in Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts in 2019 was more than a bet on real estate. It was more like a strategic investment in a luxury brand. Gupta said in an interview in May 2024 that Leela Palaces plans to open around 20 hotels across India. Both these companies have a portfolio of luxury hospitality assets. Apart from this, there is also a joint venture between the two, Ventive Hospitality.
