Sonu Shivdasani ’ s Soneva brand is known for its barefoot , slow-life approach to luxury resorts , which attracts the jet-setting ultra-rich who he says spend as much as US $ 1 million a year at his three properties in Thailand and the Maldives .
Since selling the Six Senses brand in 2012 , Shivdasani also has been known for a slow development track , but that , he says , is changing with Soneva ’ s fourth PE investor , Denver-based KSL Capital Partners , which he says better understands luxury
DEVELOPMENT
Q& A :
SONU
SHIVDASANI
WITH A NEW EQUITY PARTNER IN HAND , THE SONEVA LEGEND OUTLINES GROWTH PLANS .
By JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
hotel development and is motivated to increase its footprint in Asia Pacific .
In November , KSL took a 30 % to 40 % stake in Shivdasani ’ s Soneva Holdings . Sailing Capital , which invested in Soneva in 2014 , cashed out after earning what it called a “ healthy return ” for its co-development of Soneva Jani Resort , which opened in the Maldives in 2016 . Shivdasani and his wife , Eva Malmström Shivdasani , who founded Soneva in 1995 , retain the majority stake .
Development will start with two resorts in the Maldives , which Shivdasani says will be positioned to avoid cannibalizing existing business , and a beach resort in the hot market of Okinawa , Japan . One of the new Maldives resorts is expected to finish construction next year and the other will start building in 2021 . The Okinawa resort is expected to start construction in 2021 and open in 2023 .
Longer term , Soneva wants to grow in Europe ( it has property on the Greek island of Milos , and Shivdasani likes Ibiza ) and has designs on urban properties in markets like London , Paris and New York City .
The deal also allows Soneva to spend US $ 30 million on existing assets , including 26 over-water villas at Soneva Jani and eight water villas at Soneva Fushi .
A separate property company has been created for new developments with Soneva Holdings pledging 50 % stakes in its two Maldives properties for a 50 % share . KSL ’ s stake in the company is US $ 200 million .
HOTELS recently spoke to Shivdasani to discuss the impact of the new partner .
HOTELS : Will residential development be a part of all new deals ?
Sonu Shivdasani : No . That ’ s one of the disciplines KSL has been imposing — that all new deals have to stack up as standalone hotels , and if we manage to sell residences , that ’ s just a very good benefit . The operations EBITDA is going to be important because they ’ re looking at an exit in five years . We ’ re potentially looking at listing at any time between five and 10 years , and the operations EBITDA is going to be valuable . H : Elaborate on your growth plans . SS : Our initial strategy is always to invest as much as we can in our existing assets . By being the owner and operator , one quickly realizes that the safest , quickest and best returns on investments are incremental investments in your existing properties . Our strategy is to further invest in the Maldives because it ’ s a destination that we are comfortable with and introduced eco-tourism ( with ) back in 1995 . We were
22 hotelsmag . com March 2020