Leela To Manage Goa Hotel For Ghm

Hotel Leela Venture, which was earlier planning to offload 49 per cent stake in its Goa property, has entered into a contract to manage the hotel on behalf of the GHM group. The Leela Palace Goa will now be known as The Leela Goa.

The company has signed an agreement with GHM (Mauritius) and GHM Aman group, an internationally well-known Boutique Resort group, for operating the 5-star delux hotel from April 1, 2003 as a GHM property.

Hotel Leela Venture was earlier planning to sell its 49 per cent stake in the Goa property as part of a plan to retire its Rs 650 crore debt and become debt-free by mid-2004.

 

The company was also planning to offload a 15 per cent stake in its upcoming projects. Also the group was planning to prune its debt through a sale-cum-lease of its 450,000 sq feet property in Mumbai.

Apart from Goa, the group has two other properties at Mumbai and Bangalore, respectively. The two hotels are operated under the brand name Leela Palace.

The Bangalore property has won kudos and was adjudged one of the 10 best hotels of 2001 by Forbes magazine.

The other properties have also won various awards, including one from the Pacific Asia Travel Association.