‘s Akquasun

May 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Expolanka Holdings and Akquasun Group based in Mumbai have formed a joint venture called Akquasun Lanka to focus on attracting tourists from emerging markets like India, Russia and China.

Expolanka Holdings, a diversified conglomerate with interests in transportation, manufacturing, international trading and strategic investments, plans to raise 2.

4 billion rupees by issuing 172 million ordinary voting shares at 14 rupees each in an initial public offer on May 12. The two companies plan to develop a ‘business-to-business’ regional destination management network, a statement said.

Akquasun Lanka will be a component of the transportation cluster of the Expolanka group which also includes Luxe Asia and Classic Travels.

Russia, China and India are huge markets; population density has always been there, but with newfound prosperity new travel trends have developed,” said Hanif Yusoof, group chief executive of Expolanka Holdings.

A particular emphasis of Akquasun Lanka will be the development of the emerging inbound markets of India, Russia and China where they own and operate their own offices.

Sri Lanka is a rapidly emerging market, said Aslam Rahim, group direc