Heyleys buys resort hotel in Maldives for US $ 23mn

Hayleys PLC has extended its leisure sector operations to the Maldives with the purchase of the Kudarah Island Resort for US$ 23 million last week. The resort situated in the South Ari Atoll, consists of 51 luxury villas in close proximity to the Kudarah Thila dive site. The investment was made by Hayleys subsidiary Luxury Resort (Pvt) Ltd, which was incorporated in the Maldives. The group said that the investment will complement its subsidiary Amaya Leisure PLC’s city hotel and resort portfolio in Sri Lanka.

The resort would be rebranded as Amaya Kudarah Maldives. Amaya Leisure, which owns 3 properties, and manages another 3 in Sri Lanka, announced that it has signed an agreement to operate the resort hotel. Most of Sri Lanka’s leading leisure groups already have a large presence or are in the process of setting up operations in the Maldives. A Hayleys official had said at a Finance Ministry’s Ease of Doing Business Forum last year that the group was finding it difficult to fund a resort acquisition in the Maldives due to Sri Lanka’s existing foreign exchange laws. The laws were slightly relaxed this January.