SEC urged to stop de-listing companies
View(s):Sri Lanka’s top stock market governance activist is urging the authorities to stop the de-listing of public listed companies, saying they should be instead probed for alleged malpractices. In a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Thilak Karunaratne, K.C. Vignarajah – who in a separate communication to the SEC commending its decision to suspend Lanka Ratings Agency and question Citrus Leisure over its Kalpitiya develpment – said that de-listing should stopped immediately.
“The majority decision of controlling interests and related parties to delist lucrative listed company, ravishes the innocent trusting Independant Minority Shareholders, deprives marketability and value of shares. It is a heinous crime perpetrated on the investing public,” he said. He said among companies seeking to de-list are Carsons’ most lucrative four oil palms PLCs. The real value of these Carsons companies and their investments in Malaysia, and in huge Indonesian oil palms plantations held through a private Malaysian company, Shalimar Developments Sdn Bhd (SDSB), is in many multiples of the present Rs.51 billion market capitalization.
The true value of these more than 105-year old companies is about Rs. 200 billion say analysts. Mr. Vignarajah said that independent minority investors have been asking for the amalgamation of these companies to a single entity at the local bourse to reflect their true values and achieve maximum efficiency.