Deals in abundance at the CSE
So far this year the CSE has seen so many deals – crossings, buybacks and private equity. This trend was started by On’ally Holdings PLC, engaged in property development and real estate business when its 12 per cent crossed on January 3. The buyer was Renuka Capital PLC which has been collecting this share since last year when it bought a 23 per cent stake in September.
Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC (CTBL) saw its controlling stake trade on January 8. On the same day, Ceylon Investment PLC (CIP) – part of the Ceylon Guardian Group – shed its holding in cable manufacturer, ACL Cables PLC. Hemas Holdings’ fully-owned subsidiary Hemas Manufacturing Ltd bought Nimex from Atlas, owned by Ceylon Pencil Co. (Pvt) Ltd on January 19.
January 26 saw Softlogic Holdings PLC enter into a private placement deal with Samena Ceylon Holdings Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Samena Capital, a principal investment group focusing on the subcontinent, Middle East, Asia and North Africa, to raise Rs.3.11 billion for the company, to settle short-term debt.
The month of February began with Janashakthi Insurance PLC selling its entire stake in the general insurance segment to multinational insurer, Allianz. March 21 saw Navara Capital selling its controlling stake in Serendib Engineering Group PLC, which provides engineering solutions to major state infrastructure outfits, to a Singaporean entity.
On March 27, Dialog Axiata entered into an agreement to acquire 35 per cent of the share capital of Digital Reality Pte Ltd (DRPL) through a primary issuance, at a cash consideration of Rs.262.5 million to establish, operate and manage Sri Lanka’s first ever high-density data centre. Dialog Axiata’s wholly owned subsidiary, Dialog Broadband Networks Pte Ltd (DBN), also entered into a shareholder agreement with Orion City’s main developer St Anthony’s Property Developers Pte Ltd (SAPD) for the acquisition.
On March 24, Serendib Hotels paid Rs.108.1 million for the balance 425,627 shares representing 48.85 per cent stake in Frontier Capital Lanka Private Ltd, the owners and operators of the villa chain, Lantern Beach Collection. United Motors Lanka PLC (UML) announced that it sold its entire stake in TVS Lanka (Pvt) Ltd to the TVS parent company in India for Rs. 1 billion.
The Ishara Nanayakkara family-led LOLC Group on March 28 increased its stake in the company, buying over the 30 per cent stake held by Japan’s Orix Corporation, the one-time owners of the company. In a transaction done on the Colombo Stock Exchange, the deal is worth nearly Rs 13 billion or US$ 85 million dollars.
The Nanayakkara family has increased its stake to 85 per cent from 55 per cent earlier with this transaction while the balance 15 per cent is held by the public.