Sunshine Holdings partners Blue Ocean Ventures

Sunshine Holdings PLC yesterday announced a strategic move by the Group to divest majority control in its subsidiary company, Sunshine Travels & Tours Ltd.

The strategic decision made by the Group will enable it to better focus on its core businesses, i.e. the healthcare, agriculture, FMCG, renewable energy and consumer packaging clusters, while providing a platform for non-core assets to achieve its true potential.

Whilst Sunshine Holdings will continue to hold a 24.8% minority stake in the business, an investment consortium led by Blue Ocean Ventures (BOV) will hold majority control.

BOV is a venture capital fund that focuses on funding innovative Sri Lankan companies to accelerate their growth. BOV has made eight investments in Sri Lanka since 2011, in diverse industries including travel, education, fashion and technology. Sunshine Travels is BOV’s third investment in the travel sector after Wild Trails and Trekurious.

As part of the agreement with the consortium, the Group’s captive business will continue to be supported by Sunshine Travels, while it would aggressively expand its services to a broader based clientele in Sri Lanka.  BOV has also made a commitment to bring in an industry veteran to help expand the business to take advantage of the vibrant travel and tourism industry in the country.

Sunshine Holdings PLC Group Managing Director Vish Govindasamy commenting on the divestiture of shares said: “We strongly felt the travel business was at an inflection point. We also realised we needed to inject expertise into the business to take advantage of the growth in the industry. This was exactly what we found in our partners and we are extremely bullish of a successful partnership, given the personnel involved.”

BOV Managing Director Prajeeth Balasubramanium said: “Sri Lanka will continue to see significant growth in the travel and tourism industry in Sri Lanka over the next five years. We are very excited to be investing in a great platform and team that will drive innovation in Sri Lanka.”

The current investment portfolio of Sunshine Holdings consists of a 10% stake in Tata Communications Lanka Ltd. and a 14.18% stake in Lanka Commodity Brokers Ltd., along with a 24.8% stake in Sunshine Travels & Tours Ltd.

Established in 2002, Sunshine Travels and Tours Limited is a premier travel agency dedicated to providing leisure and corporate travel services and solutions. Leveraging its global partners, unparalleled team of experts and cutting edge technology, it creates customised, comprehensive corporate and leisure travel solutions. STTL is an IAATA accredited agency and is an approved travel agency by the Ceylon Tourist Board.

Sunshine Holdings PLC is a diversified holding company, with interests in healthcare, plantations, FMCG, and renewable energy among other growth industries. The Group’s key portfolio comprises of plantation infrastructure across palm oil, tea and rubber, along with mature healthcare products in pharmaceutical, surgical, diagnostics and wellness supported by a dynamic proprietary distribution infrastructure with an island wide reach.

Sunshine Holdings’ fast-growing FMCG company is also the No. 2 branded tea company in Sri Lanka. The Group, which has over 13,000 employees and generates approximately US$ 100 million in revenue, is consistently ranked amongst the LMD Top 50 Companies in Sri Lanka.

Blue Ocean Ventures is a Sri Lankan-based, BOI-approved venture capital fund. Set up with the aim of assisting innovative Sri Lankan companies, BOV seeks to invest capital in exciting companies. The founding partners in BOV bring deep expertise in the realm of early stage investing, building start-ups and running large companies in the US, Australia and Asia. The firm actively looks for exciting ventures that will benefit from its funding and expertise. BOV targets investments across many industries, including travel and hospitality, education, fashion, retail and technology.