SPECULATION is rife that Sonu Shivdasani, CEO and chairman of Six Senses BVI, is close to signing a deal with an American company, which may result in different shareholdings in the Soneva and Six Senses brands.
Sources expect the agreement to be signed within the next two weeks.
Speculation of the capital restructuring had been in the market since an organisational restructure of the company last July, which separated Six Senses and Soneva into three divisions run by three presidents – Shivdasani for Soneva, Bernhard Bohnenberger for Six Senses Resorts & Spas, and Jan Poul de Boer for Six Senses Properties.
The departure of several executives, as a result of Soneva management being property-based largely in the Maldives and a smaller Six Senses team in Bangkok, sparked rumours that the chain had hit a rough patch. Nearly half of its 15 resorts in operation across three brands (Soneva, Six Senses and Evason) are in Thailand, a destination in perpetual recovery mode since 2009. There was also a guess that its private residences sales were lukewarm as the rich got battered by the financial crisis and the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis.
In a phone interview from the Maldives, Shivdasani declined to confirm or deny that a capital restructuring was in the works. He responded, however, to questions on the organisational restructuring, saying: “Eva (his wife) and I want to focus more on Soneva, that’s why we restructured the company.”
He dismissed talk that residential sales were not doing well. “Our budget EBITDA is US$25 million and residences account for US$10 million. That’s 40 per cent of earnings. We had four sales in the Maldives; (Soneva) Kiri (in Thailand) sold 11 – eight have been built and we start building the other three in summer. Residences is a new income stream, that’s why we separate it (under the properties division).
“Business at Six Senses is up 30 to 40 per cent in revenue in the past 12 months. Thailand’s 30 per cent up on budget, (though) we’re still recovering from the Thai crisis.”
Asked why he wanted to focus more on Soneva, he said: “I’m getting old (laughs).
“Six Senses involves a lot of travelling. We now have 30 spas opened, 11 hotels opened and another 70 different projects in the pipeline, of which 20 are seeing quite a bit of activity. There are also lots of spas opening. Bernhard is doing a great job; he enjoys the travel and managing other people’s properties.”
Shivdasani is 46 years old – hardly old, many would say – and, at that age, already hugely admired globally for his ‘intelligent luxury’ concept. His sustainability practices won him The Most Environment Friendly Hotel Company award, one of four outstanding achievement awards in the annual TTG Travel Awards, in 2007.
