Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts IPO: Schloss Bangalore has submitted draft papers to capital market regulator SEBI for the Rs 5,000 crore IPO of luxury hotel chain Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts. Schloss Bangalore operates palaces, hotels, and resorts under the Leela brand. With this size, it will be the largest IPO ever in the country's hotel sector.

Leela Palaces was started in 1986 by CP Krishnan Nair. Currently, it is owned by a real estate fund invested by Brookfield Asset Management. The Leela brand of palaces, hotels, and resorts is present in 12 countries including New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Gurugram, and Mumbai. Out of these 12 hotels, 5 are company-owned hotels, 6 are managed through hotel management agreements, and 1 hotel is owned and operated by a third party under a franchise arrangement.

New shares worth RS 3000 crore

According to the draft red herring prospectus, new shares worth Rs 3000 crore will be issued in the IPO. There will also be an offer for sale of Rs 2000 crore. Promoter Project Bale Bangalore Holdings (DIFC) will sell shares in the OFS. Leela Palaces may raise Rs 600 crore in a pre-IPO funding round before filing the red herring prospectus with the Registrar of Companies.

Out of the money raised by issuing new shares in the IPO, the company will use Rs 2700 crore to repay its own and subsidiaries' debt. Leela Palaces had a consolidated debt of Rs 4,052.5 crore by the end of May 2024. The remaining money will be used for general corporate purposes.

11 investment banks will manage the share sale

11 investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Axis Capital, Citi, ICICI Securities, IIFL Capital, Motilal Oswal and SBI Caps, will manage the share sale. Kevin Technologies is the registrar for the issue.