Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence to Invest $78mn on Hotels

12th July 2010, www.dailymirror.lk

Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence group is planning to put 78 million US dollars in to the leisure sector after a war ended in Sri Lanka with new hotels in the south western coast being started first, an official said.

"We envisage a post-war investment around 9.0 billion rupees (78 million US dollars) given the opportunities that we have," Aitken Spence director Gehan Perera told a forum organized by Acuity, an investment bank.

A 30-year war which had hamstrung tourism ended in May 2009, and arrivals are up over 40 percent this year. Aiken Spence owns or operates 27 hotels with 2,020 rooms in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman.

The firm will refurbish and expand a 94-room hotel in Kalutara, formerly known as Golden Sun which it only managed at first but has since taken full control after a Singapore based shareholder sold out.

A hotel in Beruwala is being done up and will be relaunched as Heritance Mahagedera in early 2011 positioned as a 64-room specialized Ayurveda (a traditional South Asian healthcare system) resort.

Its premium hotels, branded Heritance, includes a 5-star resort next to a lake in Kandalama in central Sri Lanka, a former tea factory in the central hills and a beach resort in Ahungalle in the south western coast.

Perera said a 10 acre land next to Heritance Ahungalle was slated for development. Earlier reports have said the group was planning a venture there with the Six Senses leisure group.

"We have another seven acres next to Heritance Mahagedera in Beruwala. This is also under discussion," Perera said.

"In Nilaweli (in north eastern Sri Lanka) we have a little over 100 acres. It is also on the drawing board. We are looking at a fairly integrated development there."

Perera said the group was looking at Yala in the deep south of the country, where a popular national park is located and was also scouting for more opportunities in the north. In addition to Nilaweli it was also looking at more projects in eastern Sri Lanka.

The government recently gave land to developers in Pasikuda and another tourism zone in Kuchchaveli has also been opened.

Aitken Spence Hotels in a Mixed Development Hotel Project in Nilaweli, Trincomalee, Offers Luxury Villas, standard Rooms and Apartments

13th November 2009, www.dailynews.lk, By Shirajiv SIRIMANE in London

Aitken Spence Hotels would invest on a 500-room property in Nilaweli early next year. Managing Director, Aitken Spence Hotels, Malin Hapugoda said on Wednesday that this would be a mixed development hotel project where they would offer luxury Villas, standard rooms and apartments. “We already have a 100-acre property and I think this is the time to invest in it”, he said.

Having completed over three decades in the hotels industry, Aitken Spence has a chain of luxury hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Oman. “We are planning to build apartments sell and manage them,” he said. Construction work on the hotel project would get under way next year and is scheduled to be completed by 2012. He also outlined plans to construct a business hotel in Jaffna next year. He said that they would also invest 25 million US dollars jointly with Six Senses Resorts and Spas to build a new hotel in Ahungalle.

“This project was on hold for five years due to the war situation in the country. Now the investor is pressuring us to go ahead with this project,” he said. Six Senses Resorts and Spas management and development company with properties in six countries including the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam, Oman, Jordan and Spain is a leading hotel operator in the world and their presence in Sri Lanka would give additional value to the destination.

“Ten acres of land for the project is already available next to the five star Heritance Ahungalle and we are looking at constructing 57 individual ultra luxury units,” he said. The group would also operate two individual Spas in these two new hotels.

Aitken Spence would also invest on a 15-20 Backwater Villas hotel project in Madu Ganga next year. “When these two properties are ready the total room strength in Ahungalle area would be over 220.”

Image: Managing Director, Aitken Spence Hotels, Malin Hapugoda