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The Leela is an Indian luxury hotel chain founded in 1986 by C. P. Krishnan Nair and currently owned by Brookfield Asset Management.[1]
History
The Leela hotels were founded as part of The Leela Group, which was named after the founder C. P. Krishnan Nair's wife. Nair bought 11 acres of land near his house in Sahar Village, Mumbai to build his first hotel, The Leela Mumbai, in 1986. It was the first luxury hotel near the current Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.[2]
In 1991, a second hotel was opened in Goa. The Leela Goa was designed keeping the overall architecture of the state in mind. The luxury seaside resort has taken its inspiration from Portuguese heritage and is spread over 75 acres of land in South Goa near by Cavelossim Beach.[3]
In 2001, the group's first modern hotel was built with 357 rooms in the IT capital of India, Bangalore, inspired by the Mysore Palace and the architecture of the 13th century Vijayanagara empire, and is surrounded by seven acres of gardens.[4] By 2009, two more properties were added to this portfolio: The Leela Palace in Udaipur (Rajasthan) and The Leela Ambience Gurgaon.
The Leela Palace, Bangalore
The Leela Palace, Chennai
The Leela Ambience Gurgaon is the group's first non-owned, managed property. The Leela Palace New Delhi opened in April 2011; the palace is inspired by Sir Edwin Lutyens Delhi.[5] The group opened a new hotel in Chennai in 2013 called The Leela Palace Chennai. The second Managed hotel was taken over in year 2015, in East Delhi, The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel.[6] In 2021, the group further expanded its portfolio with three new hotels; The Leela Palace Jaipur, The Leela Gandhinagar and The Leela Bhartiya City Bengaluru.[7] There are plans to open new hotels in Hyderabad and Agra.[8]
The company has marketing alliances with US-based Preferred Hotels and Resorts and is a member of Global Hotel Alliance based in Dubai.[9] A previous marketing alliance with Swiss-based Kempinski ended in October 2013.[10]
In a deal in October 2019, the company sold its hotel properties and operations as well as hotel assets located in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Udaipur to Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, in an INR 3,950 crore settlement, marking the entry of Brookfield in India’s hospitality market.[11][12][13]
ITC Group had objected to the sale of Leela owned hotels citing reasons of misappropriation of funds in the sale transaction which was led by the consortium of banks and also due to the fact the interests of minority shareholders were overlooked, and other bids submitted by interested bidders were not considered by JM Financial, the asset reconstruction company in Mumbai. The Securities Appellate Tribunal in September 2019 rejected the petition of ITC clearing the way for Brookfield to acquire the hotels.[14]
In addition to ITC, there were other suitors for the Leela Hotels & Resorts, including that of Rashid Al-Habtoor[15] a UAE businessman jointly with an Arms Dealer Abhishek Verma[16] who submitted their bid of US$600 million in January 2019 however their bids were not entertained and questions were raised on the conduct of JM Financial in this sale transaction.[17]
Business structure
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts is the trading name of Leela Palaces and Resorts Limited.[18] Hotel Leelaventure Limited is the ultimate holding company of the hotel group, and is traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE: 500193) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE: HLVLTD).[18] Hotel Leelaventure Limited is itself part of The Leela Group business conglomerate.