Six Senses founder seeks Gulf backing for new brand

• Sonu Shivdasani founded Six Senses
• $125m investment vehicle
• First site planned for Oman

Sonu Shivdasani, the founder of ultra-luxury hospitality brands Six Senses and Soneva, is seeking investment from the Gulf to help launch a new hotel concept, with the first Middle East property expected to open in Oman by 2028.

His latest venture, Sosei, is positioned as an ultra-luxury hospitality concept inspired by Japanese spiritual values.

Shivdasani was in the UAE this month to raise capital for Sosei, building on existing Middle Eastern investment support for his earlier ventures. The plan is to establish a GCC-led investment vehicle of about $125 million, with Shivdasani committing $25 million and outside investors providing the remainder.

“It’s a sort of 20/80 fund that would invest in Sosei projects,” Shivdasani told AGBI.

The first development under the new brand is planned for Salalah, in southern Oman, on a privately owned island spanning about 1,000 hectares.

Shivdasani said discussions are underway with both the island’s owner and the Omani government, and agreements are expected to be concluded next quarter. “We would take a 10 percent stake,” Shivdasani added.

Talks are also ongoing for a potential Sosei property in Abu Dhabi, but no deal has yet been finalised, he said.

Shivdasani intends for Sosei-branded properties to open in 12 countries, with development agreements progressing across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The Sosei hotel concept pitch to investors leans heavily on Shivdasani’s track record of building and scaling high-end hospitality assets such as Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani in the Maldives, as well as Six Senses Zighy Bay in Oman.

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“We opened Soneva Fushi back in 1995. The total equity was about $4 million, and it was valued at north of $120 million recently,” Shivdasani said.

Another Maldives resort, Soneva Gili, was built with an investment of about $16 million and reached a gross operating profit of $10 million by its third year of operations, he added.

“The original investors, including ourselves, achieved an internal rate of return of about 27% over 10 years, so it wasn’t a bad investment,” Shivdasani said.

Shivdasani sold the Six Senses brand to US private equity firm Pegasus Capital in 2012 and divested a majority stake in Soneva to KSL Capital Partners last year.