EPF holds onto old investments
View(s):The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), the country’s largest pension fund in a tight spot with its investments during the last regime, still holds onto some of those past stakes in listed firms, data shows.
The EPF had a 9.6 per cent stake in Amaya Leisure December 31 last year and has 8 per cent in the loss- making The Finance Company.
EPF retained 8.9 per cent stake in Ceylon Grain Elevators as at 31 March 2017 and was this company’s second largest share holder.
At Balangoda Plantations, EPF is the number 2 shareholder with 1.35 million shares or 5.7 per cent as at December last year. At DIMO, EPF remains the single largest shareholder with 19.9 per cent stake 31 December 2016 up to the last quarter.
At Dialog Axiata, EPF remains the number 2 shareholder as at March this year. The EPF has 180,787,158 shares in Dialog which is a 2.2 per cent stake. This holding was unchanged since the last quarter.
At Cargills EPF is having 5 per cent and it is the third largest shareholder. At Sri Lanka Telecom, the EPF is at number 3 with 1.4 per cent or 25.3 million shares. At Asian Hotels and Properties, the main buyers during 1Q17 include EPF with 10.2 per cent stake as at December against the 9.84 percent as at March of that year.
The EPF stopped investing in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) following the bad blood during the pump and dump era more than three years ago, which has pushed the CSE to lobby the Treasury to get the CB to lure EPF and Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) to restart their investments.
The two mandatory and state-managed superannuation funds dominate the pensions industry and about 92 per cent of these funds are invested in government securities. Only 6.5 per cent of the Rs. 3.1 trillion market capitalisation of the CSE is owned by institutional institutions such as EPF, ETF, insurance companies and unit trusts.
At People’s Leasing Company (PLC) EPF’s stake as at 31 March 2017 is 5.43 per cent. At PLC, EPF is the number 2 shareholder. At Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC EPF retained 9.4 per cent stake as at March this year.