Hotel Leelaventure seeks more time to repay LIC debt

Hotel Leelaventure today said it has not been able to pay Rs 22.50 crore as the first instalment for servicing a debt to state-owned life insurer LIC and is seeking more time for repayment.
"The company was required to pay Rs 22.50 crore towards first instalment on March 31, 2014, which the company has not been able to pay. Further, the company has also not paid the quarterly interest, which fell due on June 19, 2014 and September 19, 2014," Hotel Leelaventure said in a filing to BSE.
When asked about the matter, Hotel Leelaventure Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Nair said that the payment was to be made to Life Insurance Corporation.

The company CFO Krishna Deshika said the company had raised Rs 90 crore by issuing debentures to LIC.
The repayment was to be made in four annual instalments from March 2014-2017 and the company is seeking more time for the payment, he said.
Hotel Leelaventure had reported a widening of its standalone net loss to Rs 174.62 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 148.55 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Leela owns and operates eight properties in urban cities and holiday destinations such as Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Kovalam, Udaipur, Gurgaon, New Delhi and Chennai.

Other Leela properties under development include Jaipur, Bangalore, Agra and Lake Ashtamudi in Kerala.
The total debt of the company as on June 30, 2014 was about Rs 5,000 crore out of which Rs 4,000 crore was from the Corporate Debt Restructuring lenders.