JKH’s foreign holdings thinning fast
Foreign ownership of blue-chip, John Keells Holdings (JKH) is fast ebbing with analysts noting that this year has seen the most outflows from the stock.
As at December 19, JKH saw its foreign ownership drop to 49.5 per cent or 686,956,411 shares down from 57.9 per cent as at June 30. On November 7 trades made on JKH, which doesn’t have a controlling shareholder, saw its foreign ownership slip down to 51.1 per cent.
JKH traded close to Rs. 2 billion worth of shares on Thursday which is close to 1 per cent of the total outstanding shares of the company. The shares were traded at prices close to Rs. 160 a share which is also the price at which the company has an open stock buyback offer. The conglomerate executed a share buy-back at a proposed ratio of 1:20 shares and per share price of Rs.160 for a total consideration of Rs. 11.1 billion in mid November.
Analysts say that this stock is being sold by foreign institutions as they are exiting emerging markets as a whole. The foreign selling was collected by heavy local buying by Sri Lanka’s largest high net worth investors – the Captains and Melstacorp major shareholder, Harry Jayawardena. The Captains family owns some 19 per cent and analysts say that these two parties have together accumulated over a 25 per cent stake.