India’s DLF sells luxury Amanresorts for $300 mn

India’s biggest property company DLF, struggling to repay debt, said it has agreed to sell luxury hotel chain Amanresorts International back to its founder for around $300 million.

The New Delhi-based company, controlled by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh and his family, has been disposing of non-core assets in a drive to pare its nearly $4 billion debt and develop its main real estate business.

DLF, India’s largest developer by sales, said in a statement it was “pleased to announce the signing of a definitive agreement” to sell Singapore-based Amanresorts back to Indonesian hotel operator Adrian Zecha.

DLF valued the transaction, which excludes the chain’s hotel in New Delhi, at around $300 million. It bought Amanresorts, which has some 25 top luxury properties across the world, five years ago from Zecha for some $400 million, DLF and other Indian developers have been hit by buyers delaying property purchases as growth in Asia’s third largest economy stumbles.

The company last month reported quarterly net profit slid 63 percent from a year earlier on weaker sales.

AFP