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Price band set at 413-435 rupees

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Hotel operator slashed IPO size by 30%

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IPO to open May 26, listing expected on June 2

(Rewrites throughout with executive comments, company

financials)

By Hritam Mukherjee

BENGALURU, May 21 (Reuters) - Schloss Bangalore

, the owner of Indian luxury hotel chain 'The Leela',

is seeking a valuation of up to $1.7 billion after cutting its

initial public offering (IPO) size by 30% due, in part, to a

smaller debt load, it said on Wednesday.

Schloss set a price band of 413 rupees to 435 rupees per

share for the downsized $409 million IPO, valuing the company at

about 145 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) at the upper end of the

band.

Schloss is selling shares worth 25 billion rupees in the

IPO, about 17% less than originally planned, while Brookfield

Asset Management ( BAM ) is selling shares worth 10 billion

rupees, or about 8% of its overall stake, the IPO prospectus

showed.

The main reason Schloss filed for an IPO in September last

year was to service its debt, but since then, it has been able

to lower its debt obligations, CEO Anuraag Bhatnagar told

Reuters.

The company's adjusted net debt declined 32% on-year to

25.68 billion rupees in the fiscal year ended March 2025. It

swung to a profit last fiscal, from a year-ago loss, helped by

an 11% increase in revenue.

Brookfield, however, said it was selling fewer shares than

the originally planned 20 billion rupees worth as the equity

markets have declined since hitting record highs in late

September, around the time Schloss filed its IPO papers.

"It (the market) may have become more volatile. Certainly a

lot of things have happened geopolitically," said Ankur Gupta,

managing partner and head of Asia Pacific and Middle East at

Brookfield Asset Management ( BAM ).

Indeed, several IPO hopefuls have either delayed or

downsized their IPO plans as global trade worries and a domestic

border conflict pressured markets.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 is roughly 6% down from the

record-highs of September, despite a 5% gain this year.

Schloss' IPO will open for bids from May 26 to May 28, and

its shares are expected to start trading on June 2.

($1 = 85.5230 Indian rupees)