Hilton Mumbai International Airport hotel near Sahar airport is on the verge of being sold for more than Rs 400 crore, a year after the five-star hotel was put on the block by its owner, Dynamix Balwas (DB) Hospitality. The 1.2 acre property, formerly known as Le Royal Meridian, is expected to be sold to a the US-based Patel family with interests in the hotel business.“The prospective buyer is currently carrying out due diligence of the property before the deal is concluded,” said sources familiar with the transaction, in a Times of India report by Nauzer K Bharucha. The 171-room hotel was built 12 years ago and was the first joint venture project between Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa, who later formed the DB Group. Last year, the two partners were arrested for their alleged role in the 2G telecom scam. The five-star hotel is a stone's throw from the Mumbai international airport and is one of the five hotel properties put up for sale by the group. DB Group sources said the company plans to raise around Rs 900 crore through the sale of five hotels in Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Mundra and Mumbai. These include the 63-room Le Meridien Hotel in Ahmedabad, the upcoming Grand Hyatt in Pune, the 125-room under-construction Hyatt Palace in Mundra and a 40-room fort-turned-hotel in Mukundgarh near Jaipur. DB Hospitality is currently talking to three hospital companies to convert the incomplete Grant Hyatt in Pune into a hospital. An insider said, “The group felt it is difficult to manage these smaller hotels and has decided to dispose them off,” he said. It will continue to retain three of its larger hotels in Goa, Delhi and Mumbai. Trouble started for the beleaguered group when Balwa (Managing Director) and Goenka (Chairman) were arrested and spent almost the entire last year in Tihar jail. After the arrests, their fathers, K M Goenka and Usman Balwa took charge of the company as Non Executive Directors. Both are currently out on bail. The arrests affected the group's on-going realty projects in Mumbai when lenders stopped funding them, stated the report. DB Realty's 11 residential projects in the city were stalled, but sources said a fresh infusion of funds recently will ensure that they are completed on time, added the report.
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