KU DE TA is now CE LA VI

SINGAPORE — Say goodbye to KU DE TA and hello to CE LA VI.

L Capital Asia, the Asian private equity business sponsored by French luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), which owns the majority stake in KU DE TA Singapore, announced today (June 4) the creation of its new entertainment brand CE LA VI at Marina Bay Sands’ SkyPark.

The name is an abbreviation of the French phrase “C’est la vie,” meaning “This is life”.

Its other KU DE TA brands — in Bangkok, which opened in 2013, and in Hong Kong, which was slated to open next month — will also be carrying the CE LA VI name.

This move comes after the Courts of Appeal ruled last week that KU DE TA in Singapore had to stop using the name, which belonged to the eponymous beachfront club in Bali. It follows a court ruling last December, where it was revealed that Nine Squares, the licensor of the KU DE TA trademark in Singapore, did not own the trademark.

But CE LA VI’s chief executive officer Kirk Martin told TODAY plans for the name change had already been in the works even before last year’s court ruling. “When I came on board in April last year, we had already started raising questions such as ‘Who are we? What does our brand mean? Where do we want to take our business?’” he said. “We wanted to raise it to an international brand level, especially with L Capital investing.”

Martin added that the existence of another entity like KU DE TA Bali, which is operating in another location and has different goals, as well as talk of litigation and lawsuits had made it difficult to develop the brand name here.

“Sure, we could make a deal (with KU DE TA Bali) but we made a decision that the best way forward is to have our own name. To build a global brand, we have to own our own destiny. We’re still young enough to build a new brand platform. We were ready — we just had to accelerate the announcement of CE LA VI.”

L Capital Asia has plans for the brand to become “the international titan of lifestyle and sophisticated hedonism” through five core pillars: An iconic rooftop location with a great vista, a modern Asian menu, innovative cocktails, music by top DJs and architectural design inspired by Asia.

According to Martin, when it finally opens, CE LA VI Hong Kong will be the first to showcase the brand’s new architectural design, which will feature more “organic Asian elements” such as stone panels, Javanese pottery, and flora. Renovations for the Singapore branch will begin this month and are expected to be completed in September, in time for the Formula 1 season.

Other CE LA VI outlets are planned for Taipei and Dubai within the next couple of years. And the company has also set its sights at locations in Shanghai, Jakarta, Tokyo and Seoul.