Jailed Indian tycoon gets more time to sell luxury hotels
India's Supreme Court on Thursday gave jailed tycoon Subrata Roy extra time to keep negotiating the sale of three luxury foreign hotels to raise $1.6 billion bail after his lawyers said he was close to a deal.
The court gave the founder of the Sahara media-to-finance empire 15 more "working days" -- on top of 10 days given him in early August -- to use a special conference room at New Delhi's sprawling Tihar Jail complex to sell the properties, which include New York's iconic Plaza Hotel and London's Grosvenor House.
The flamboyant businessman, who began negotiating with potential buyers on August 5, needs to raise the 100-billion-rupee ($1.6-billion) bail set by the court to obtain his freedom.
The Supreme Court jailed Roy, known for his rags-to-riches story and mansion modelled on the US White House, in March after he missed a court appearance in a long-running row with security regulators.
Roy's lawyer, S Ganesh, told the court talks to sell the Plaza and Grosvenor House, along with the Dream Downtown hotel in New York, "are at an advanced stage". "Only the agreements for sale have to be signed," Ganesh said.
Justice TS Thakur, heading a three-man Supreme Court bench, warned Roy this was the only extension that the court would give.
The three hotels are valued at a total of around $1.6 billion, according to a valuation cited by the Supreme Court.
Ganesh said it now appeared Roy would get nearly 50 percent more money than he had originally anticipated for the hotels, which the businessman bought to build a luxury accommodation portfolio.
The clock starts ticking on Roy's 15-day extension next Tuesday.
Media reports say Indian pharmaceutical billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla and US-based Madison Capital Holdings may be interested in the properties.
The Supreme Court bench has allowed Roy and two jailed company directors access to three secretaries, video-conferencing and computers to facilitate sale negotiations.
The three men are sleeping at the conference facilities and are allowed to work from six in the morning until eight at night to allow for international time differences.
Sahara raised 200 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) from millions of small savers through an illegal bond scheme.
Regulators ordered the group to pay the money back -- even though the Supreme Court said there were "serious doubts about the existence" of the investors, fuelling long-running allegations of money-laundering.
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