Browns Investments PLC (BIL) yesterday announced plans to buy a 100-room luxury resort in Mauritius for $ 12 million.
It said the fully-owned subsidiary in UAE BI Leisure Holdings FZE entered into a Share Sale and Purchase agreement to buy 100% of PL Resort Ltd. in Mauritius. The purchase consideration of this acquisition is $ 3.7 million after deducting the existing debt from the value, BIL said in a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange.
PL Resort owns a 100-room luxury beach resort which is managed and operated by the famed Raddison hotel management company under the Radisson Blu brand.
BI Leisure Holdings was incorporated with the objective of acquiring and developing a few leisure properties outside Sri Lanka.
Despite the announcement, BIL shares gained by only 1.67% or 10 cents to close at Rs. 6.10.
BIL has interests in investments, leisure and travel, construction, manufacturing and trading, plantation, power, and real estate.
In December 2020, Eden Hotel Lanka PLC, a subsidiary of the Palm Garden Hotels PLC acquired 55.59% stake in Serendib Hotels PLC. With this acquisition Dolphin Hotels PLC, Hotel Sigiriya PLC, Serendib Leisure Management Ltd., Sanctuary Resorts Lanka Ltd., Frontier Capital Lanka Ltd. became subsidiaries of Palm Garden Hotels PLC.
BIL’s leisure and travel sector in FY21 reported a pre-tax loss of Rs. 3.4 billion, up from Rs. 2.6 billion loss in the previous year. BIL suffered a consolidated after-tax loss of Rs. 4.7 billion in FY21 as against a Rs. 7 billion profit in FY20.