Panaji, Sep 20 (PTI): Hospitality group Hotel Leelaventure Ltd on Saturday sold its hotel property in Goa for Rs 725 crore to Ceres Hotels Ltd, the Indian arm of Malaysian firm MetTube.

However, Leelaventure will continue to operate the hotel under Leela brand.

Leelaventure board in a meeting on Saturday decided the sale of entire undertaking of the company pertaining to the hotel in Goa, The Leela Goa, on slump sale basis for a consideration of Rs 725 crore, it said in a statement.

The hotel would be transferred through business transfer agreement to Ceres Hotels.

"The disinvestment of the Goa hotel and retaining the management of the hotel under the Leela brand is in line with our strategy to restructure our debt, follow an asset light model and manage more hotels," Hotel Leelaventure CMD Vivek Nair said in a statement.

The company reportedly had a debt of around Rs 5,000 crore as of March this year. As per the terms of a Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) package, the company had to reduce its debts through sale of assets.

"This investment signifies the group's confidence in building and growing businesses in India," MetTube president and chief executive officer Raghav Mittal said.

Before the sale of hotel in Goa, Hotel Leelaventure had a total portfolio of six company owned and two managed luxury palaces and hotels in India.

MetTube is a part of the Lord Bagri promoted Metdist Group.