Soneva
resort chain
Soneva, formerly Soneva Resorts and Residences, is a resort chain founded in Maldives in 1995 by Sonu Shivdasani OBE and his wife Eva Malmström Shivdasani. The Shivdasanis stepped away fully from the business in May 2025, after KSL Capital Partners took a majority interest in Soneva Group.
History
Soneva started as a resort brand under the company Six Senses BVI, founded by Sonu and Eva Shivdasani in 1995.
In 2012, the Shivdasanis sold the Six Senses and Evason branded resort and spa management contracts, and related intellectual property rights, to Pegasus Capital Advisors. The Shivdasanis also sold Soneva Gili (now known as Gili Lankanfushi) and concentrated on resorts with residences, as part of the "One Owner, One Operator, One Philosophy, One Brand" strategy under Soneva. Following the change of Maldivian law in December 2010, Soneva Fushi became one of the first resorts in the Maldives to offer residences to foreigners for purchase under leasehold. A 4-bedroom villa at Soneva Fushi was the first leasehold residential property to be sold in the Maldives in March 2011.
Soneva Fushi is regarded as the first luxury hotel in the Maldives, setting of the trend of luxury holidays in the nation. It was the first "Robinson Crusoe" styled resort in the Maldives and also offered the first wine cellar in the Maldives.
1995: Creation of Six Senses BVI and Soneva brand
1995: Soneva Fushi opens on the island of Kunfunadhoo, Maldives, with 48 villas
2001: Soneva Gili, the first resort in the Maldives to be completely over water, opens
2001: First Evason hotel opens in Phuket
2004: First Six Senses property opens in Hua Hin
2007: Eco Centro opens at Soneva Fushi; the Maldives' first integrated waste management centre
2008: Soneva Fushi debuts the first astronomy observatory in the Maldives
2008: Soneva introduces 2% carbon levy to offset carbon emissions
2008: Soneva bans branded bottled water
2009: Soneva Kiri opens in Koh Kood, Thailand
2010: Soneva Foundation is founded
2011: Sale of private residences at Soneva Fushi begins
2012: Split and sale of Six Senses, Evason, and Soneva Gili (now known as Gili Lankanfushi).
“Soneva” enters the record as resort chain. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Soneva, resort and chain can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28403248. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995, 2025, 2012 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soneva” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.