Hotel Leela to sell 15% stake to raise funds

Hotel Leelaventure Ltd said on Monday it will offer 14.95% of its equity to "prospective investors" by issue of fresh shares to help cut debt and lower interest costs.    

A top company official had said last week it planned to raise as much as Rs9.5 billion by selling a property and foraying into real estate development and is also considering bringing in a private equity investor to raise up to 6 billion rupees.                      

The firm has also decided against acquiring its currently leased land in Bangalore, Mumbai and Goa against shares, and will instead renew lease agreements on long-term tenure, it said in a press release on Monday.  

Shares of Hotel Leela have risen more than a tenth since March 1, when Reuters first broke the story. On Monday, they were up 3.08% at Rs40.15 in a weak Mumbai market.