India's biggest property company DLF, struggling to repay debt, said Wednesday it has agreed to sell luxury hotel chain Amanresorts International back to its founder for around $300 million. The New Delhi-based company, controlled by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh and his family, has been disposing of non-core assets in a drive to pare its nearly $4 billion debt and develop its main real estate business.

DLF, India's largest developer by sales, said in a statement it was "pleased to announce the signing of a definitive agreement" to sell Singapore-based Amanresorts back to Indonesian hotel operator Adrian Zecha. DLF valued the transaction, which excludes the chain's hotel in New Delhi, at around $300 million. It bought Amanresorts, which has some 25 top luxury properties across the world, five years ago from Zecha for some $400 million,

DLF and other Indian developers have been hit by buyers delaying property purchases as growth in Asia's third largest economy stumbles. The company last month reported quarterly net profit slid 63 percent from a year earlier on weaker sales. Shares of DLF closed nearly one percent higher at 225.55 rupees following the announcement by the firm, which said the deal would be closed by the end of February. The sale is the latest in a series by DLF which earlier this year disposed of a prime plot of land in the commercial hub Mumbai for nearly $500 million. DLF now is focusing on selling its wind-energy business.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012