Citrus Leisure PLC (REEF) to come up with couple of IPOs?

Citrus Leisure flagship Hotel at Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

After undergoing a management change in 2010, former Hotel Reefcomber PLC now Citrus Leisure (REEF) will come up with couple of IPOs on coming months to raise funds to their newest to ventures, an analyst told CSE Leaks.

Citrus Leisure in the last quarter of 2010 bought two new lands at Kalpitiya and Waskaduwa in a bid to build two new hotels with a view becoming a post war bullish fast growing hotel chain in the country.

“The IPOs might come in February” the analyst told CSE Leaks.

Citrus Leisure had earlier purchased 78 acres of land, known as Santhoduwa-Kalpitiya, to construct a four star resort in Kalpitiya in Sri Lanka. The proposed resort will feature 150 rooms and 28 water front villas. The water front villas will be constructed facing a 50 meter-wide waterway which cuts through the land and connects at the end to the sea. Murad Ismail, a Sri Lankan architect, has designed the resort.

The water villas will feature individual gondolas providing the occupants access to the sea. The villas will be made available to local and foreign high net worth individuals on a 99-year lease basis.

The ‘Santhoduwa-Kalpitiya’ site is ideally placed in close proximity to the whale- and dolphin-watching sites in the seas off Kalpitiya and the magnificent Wilpattu National Park, home to the elephant and the elusive Ceylon leopard.

Citrus Leisure will operate the villas as part of the hotel with the concurrence of their owners. The company has spent approximately Rs.122.18 million (US $1.1 million) for land acquisition.

The purchase is Citrus' second major acquisition. Earlier, the company had acquired a 7.2 acre beach property in Waskaduwa and it will commence construction work on the site in early 2011. The proposed scheme would be a 150-room, four-star property.

Sri Lanka’s home grown advertising giant Triad and its creative duo Dilith Jayaweera and Varuni Amunugama Fernando bought a majority stake in Reefcomber through Emagewise Ltd., a private venture of Triad Advertising in 2010 and rebranded the company as Citrus Leisure PLC.