[…] Today, Amanzoe is among the Amanresorts caught in a takeover battle the likes of which the luxury-hotel industry has never seen, a Euripides-worthy drama/tragedy in which the temples of transquility have been filled with shouting; and the serenity of Amanresorts has been broken by the litigious voices of an Indian-American businessman, a Russian oligarch, the resorts’ visionary creator and batteries of lawyers from London to Singapore. […]

[…] Through investment circles, a name floated on the trade winds: Vladislav Doronin, age 51. One-time boyfriend to supermodel Naomi Campbell, he is “the broody billionaire,” according to a London Evening Standard magazine profile, “Moscow’s Donald Trump – a towering ego without the lust for self-promotion.” […] Like Amanat and so many others with wherewithal and wanderlust, Doronin felt a door to paradise open when he stepped into his first Aman. Doronin describes himself as a “self-obsessed Aman Junkie, having been a loyal client of Aman for over 20 years. I have known Adrian Zecha for many years through my association with Aman. Whenever I am traveling, I like to stay in an Aman resort. The quality of service is amazing, with the ratio of staff to guests sometimes up to seven staff to one guest. It makes you feel at home.” […]

[…] Doronin loved Aman so much that, according to Amanat, he sent word that was music to Amanat’s ears: financing without involvement. […] But hold on… every story has two sides, and at this point the stories of Omar Amanat and Vladislav Doronin radically diverge. A source close to the situation insists that Doronin is never passive about anything – especially a multimillion-dollar investment. “Don’t be ridiculous,” says the source. Doronin tells me, “To me, the deal was a straightforward join venture, with both parties contributing both financially and strategically. I certainly did not expect to be a silent partner or for the business not to be grown.” He adds that the deal offered something even as attractive as the Amanresorts themselves: an upside.

“Amanresorts was a real estate business opportunity with huge potential, which offered me the potential to demonstrate the will and means to rejuvenate, protect and grow the Aman brand, its prestige and global presence,” Doronin says. He envisioned increasing “the existing business by focusing on developing villas for sale and rent, while also urbanizing the Aman brand by expanding Amanresorts around the world with Aman hotels in a select few global city centers, such as Tokya, London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore. ‘Ubranization’ will be a key part of boosting the Aman brand.” […]

Source: Departures Magazine.