INTERVIEW: CRAIG COGUT


Global growth Unlike some private equity fi rms, Pegasus focuses on “long-term business building and working with management teams to create something of fundamental value, rather than just to play with the markets,” says Cogut. With Six Senses, the fi rst crucial step was getting the right people. Starting with Wolf Hengst, former president of Four Seasons, as new executive chair, a dream team was recruited: Neil Jacobs, former president of Starwood Capital Hotels and senior vice presi- dent for Four Seasons in Asia, as CEO; Bernard Bohnenberger, previously the group’s manag- ing director, as president; and Anna Bjurstam, former owner and CEO of Raison d’Etre Spas, as vice president of Six Senses Spas (now managing partner of Raison d’Etre, Bjurstam divides her time between both businesses). “We brought in a world-class management


team to enable growth,” says Cogut. “Neil’s a visionary. The people he’s brought in, and


108 CLADGLOBAL.COM


Six Senses has 15 confirmed new resorts set to open over the next three years in Bhutan, China, Bali, Taiwan, France, Portugal, the Seychelles, Tunisia and St Lucia


some people we had before, are superb.” The next priority was the backlog of pro- jects and opportunities that had been put on hold during the takeover. Now, with the decks cleared, the focus is fi rmly on refi ning the prod- uct and global expansion.“Clearly part of our investment thesis was to expand: Africa, South America, and selectively in North America and Europe. We’re starting to do that,” says Cogut. According to Cogut, Six Senses has “a very,


very big development pipeline,” and while there’s a lot he can’t talk about, there are 15 resort openings confi rmed for the next three years, including fi ve in Bhutan, three in China


and one each in Bali, Taiwan, France, Portugal, the Seychelles (its fi rst African resort), Tunisia and St Lucia. There are also seven spas in other properties: one each in Oman, Qatar, Greece, Spain and the US, and two in India. Which is Cogut most excited about? “I’m excited about everything we’re doing,” he says, although he namechecks two resorts due to open this year: the Douro Valley in Portugal’s wine region, which has “both his- tory and natural beauty”, and the Seychelles, an island property that’s “going to be abso- lutely spectacular. About three-quarters of the island won’t be developed but will be avail- able for hiking. It should be a national park.”


Design vision


In such pristine settings, getting the architec- ture and design right is crucial, says Cogut. In an interview with CLADmag’s sister mag- azine, Spa Business, Neil Jacobs said the Six Senses design philosophy would evolve “to


CLADmag 2015 ISSUE 2


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