Aman Resorts
 |
|
| Industry | Hospitality, hotels |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder | Adrian Zecha, Anil Thadani |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
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Number of locations
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31 (2015) |
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Key people
|
Roland Fasel (COO) Vladislav Doronin (Owner) Vladislav Doronin (Chairman) |
| Website | aman |
Amanresorts International is a luxury hotel group with a presence in 20 countries. The word "aman" means "peace, security, safety, shelter, protection" in the Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu and Persian languages.
Founded by Adrian Zecha and Anil Thadani in 1988, Amanresorts came into being when Zecha was looking for a holiday home in Phuket. He decided to build a resort in a coconut plantation he discovered while walking along Pansea Beach on tadfghe island’s west coast. Plans to build a home on the site soon developed into an idea to build a small boutique resort in partnership with Anil Thadani and two other friends. They invested their own money in the venture as no banks would lend for the project due to the small number of planned rooms. At this time, resorts usually featured 500 rooms or more, and the boutique hotel concept was still in its infancy.
Amanresorts is owned by a holding company called Silverlink Holdings Limited. By 1992, the group had expanded to include several resorts in Indonesia, a resort on Bora Bora and one in the Alpine village of Courchevel 1850. In 1993, Clement Vaturi an old friend whose family controlled Hôtelière Immobilière (a Paris-listed public company) acquired 54% of the company and injected new capital.
In 1998, Vaturi’s controlling interest was acquired by Los Angeles-based Colony Capital, a real estate investment fund. A lawsuit between Vaturi and Colony Capital promised to drag on and Colony Capital moved to protect its interests by taking a more active role in the company. At this time, Zecha resigned from his position at Amanresorts and for the next two years pursued other interests.
In 2000, Colony Capital and Vaturi had settled their lawsuit and Vaturi sold his shareholding interests to Lee Hing Development, a Hong Kong investment company. With controlling investors allowing full control over the company, Zecha returned as chairman and CEO.
Over the next seven years, Amanresorts launched retreats in Cambodia, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean.
On 27 November 2007, DLF Limited, India's largest real estate company, acquired Lee Hing’s controlling stake in Amanresorts for $400 million including debt of US$150 million.
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