Mauritius Sun Resorts to buy 50 pct stake in Anahita luxury hotels

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius' Sun Resorts will pay 926.4 million rupees ($29.64 million) for a 50 percent stake in Anahita Hotel Ltd., a luxury resort along the east coast of the Indian Ocean island. Tourism is a key source of hard currency for the Indian Ocean island known for its luxury spas and beaches, though the vital tourism industry has struggled in recent years mainly due to a faltering global economy. Sun Resorts, which owns and manages five hotel complexes in Mauritius and one in Maldives, an tropical Indian Ocean resort archipelago Maldives, said on Monday it would buy the stake from Alteo Ltd., to broaden its services to tourists. Sun Resorts posted a wider pretax loss of 118.49 million rupees against 112.53 million rupees a year earlier, as resorts took a knock following a dip in tourist arrivals. The stock market had closed by the time Sun Resort released a statement on its acquisition. It's shares had closed unchanged at 44.50 rupees. Though the island has found long-haul visitors from the United States and Europe harder to attract since the global financial crisis, it has stepped up efforts to woo Chinese tourists to make up the shortfall. (1 US dollar = 31.2500 Mauritius rupee)