Sunshine Holdings’ tourism arm in JV with S’pore’s SilverNeedle

Sunshine Holdings Plc yesterday announced that its subsidiary Sunshine Travels & Tours Ltd. has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Nadathur Far East Pte. Limited’s affiliate SilverNeedle Hospitality Singapore to develop and manage several new hotels in Sri Lanka.

This joint venture is expected to invest approximately US$ 50 million in a phased manner to develop, acquire and manage hotel assets in different parts of the country.

Sunshine Holdings PLC is a diversified conglomerate with interests in healthcare, plantations, FMCG, packaging, tourism, telecom and power. The group with revenue exceeding US$ 100 million is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and is ranked at number 35 among the LMD 50, which lists the top 50 listed Sri Lankan companies.

Beginning with the healthcare business in 1967, the group has built strong businesses over the last 40 years, including partnering with the Tata Group in 1992 to form a joint venture in plantations.

Since then it has partnered with it for many of its ventures in Sri Lanka and this relationship has flourished as the companies share values of ethics, transparency and integrity.

SilverNeedle Hospitality has been set up by Nadathur Fareast Pte. Ltd., an investment company founded by N.S. Raghavan, one of the co-founders of the Indian Software giant Infosys.

SilverNeedle Hospitality, an integrated Asian hospitality company newly setup by the Nadathur Group, is making investments across the hospitality sector – developing several of its own signature hotels and resorts – and is managing three, four and five star properties across Asia-Pacific.

SilverNeedle plans to have over 10,000 rooms in its network, available across Asia-Pacific in five years, making it not just one of Asia’s largest players but also establishing the company as a global leader in the Asian hospitality industry.

SilverNeedle is led by a highly experienced team which has successfully planned, developed and managed top tier brands throughout Asia.

Sunshine Travels & Tours Limited is a leading travel company providing travel services and solutions for business and leisure travellers.

The company as part of its hospitality foray has commenced operation of heritage bungalows under the brand Mandira and aims to offer a unique holiday experience through the Mandira Bungalows, which will feature colonial style boutique bungalows in several locations around the island, most with some historical significance.

The company currently operates Mandira Strathdon Bungalow, Mandira Dickoya Bungalow and Mandira Craig Appen Bungalow.