Singaporean luxury resorts chain Banyan Tree is in talks on buying a majority stake in fellow high-end hotel group Amanresorts, India’s Financial Express newspaper reported.
The daily quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying that DLF, the Indian real estate firm that owns Aman, was in advanced talks to sell most of the business for about US$350 million.
Banyan Tree has a range of interests, from hotels and resorts to spas, shopping centres and golf courses.
The newspaper said DLF, India’s largest real estate group, was seeking to sell a “controlling stake” in the group as part of a plan to cut its debt in the wake of the global downturn in the real estate market.
It bought Aman for US$400 million in 2007.
Amanresorts owns and manages 24 small luxury resorts in countries including Thailand, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, France, Morocco and the United States.
