Battle for e-Channelling

A battle is brewing between two major stakeholders to control e-Channelling Ltd with another key player eyeing the stock, according to stock market sources. Business tycoon Harry Jayawardena owns a total 25.3 percent stake through the Sri Lanka Insurance Company (19 percent) and DFCC (6.3 percent) while Hemas Holdings Ltd (HHL) owns 25 percent.

Market sources say the two corporates are trying to control the company, despite its loss making status, because of the ‘market intelligence’ that the company possesses. A stockmarket analyst said Softlogic Group, led by Ashok Pathirage, who recently battled for control of Asiri Hospitals with Jayawardena, was also eyeing the company. “The Softlogic Group (which doesn’t have any stake now) asked some of the minor shareholders whether they wanted to sell their shares in a bid to acquire the company,” he said, adding that together with Asiri Hospitals they also found e-Channelling an attractive support service.

The analyst pointed out that the e-Channelling share was stagnant at Rs.13 for more than a year. “The company has been making losses for some time,” he said. For the six months ending March 31, 2007, the company made a loss of Rs.1.7 million compared to a net profit of Rs.2.6 million recorded a year earlier. The revenue during that period was Rs.9.4 million compared to Rs.8 million in the same period in the previous year.

He said this company was lucrative to all three ‘contenders’ because of the wealth of healthcare market intelligence that it had. “All three are active in the healthcare business and want control of the company,” he said. HHL will go into healthcare sector this year with their new Wattala hospital and the Southern Hospital. Jayawardena controls Apollo Hospital. E-Channelling was incorporated in 2000 and listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange two years later.