DLF-Aman Resorts Rs 1600cr deal may not go through: Sources

DLF-Aman Resorts Rs 1,600 crore deal may not go through, reports CNBC-TV18’s Nayantara Rai quoting banking sources.

This deal was initially announced in December 2012. It was supposed to be closed by February 2013 end. DLF then extended the deadline when the buyer, which is the founder of Aman Resorts Adrian Zecha, was not able to gather enough funds for a management buyout. Also Read: DLF to sell stake in insurance JV to pare debt
The second extension was June 30. According to investment bankers, Adrian Zecha may not be in a position to buyout Aman Resorts and that is why DLF terminated the exclusivity clause with Adrian Zecha on June 30. Since then DLF has been talking to other parties.
At least five other parties have shown interest, most of them being private equity players. Banking sources also say this does not mean Adrian Zecha is totally out of the race. If he wants to buy Aman Resorts he will have to put the money on the table so as to say.
This will have an impact on DLF’s debt reduction plans. Aman Resorts sale was going to play a big role in DLF reducing its debt which is at around Rs 22,000 crore. It is one of the big assets that it has in its books that it was looking to exit, the non core asset. So it will be interesting to see when DLF will finally be able to find a buyer for Aman Resorts.
It took DLF quite a while to announce that deal with Adrian Zecha. Aman Resorts has been on the block for nearly two years before that and investors and shareholders will hope that DLF this time around will be able to find a buyer quicker than that.