Ambeon Capital focuses on techno-centric diversification plans across all sectors
Ambeon Capital, the parent company of Ambeon Holdings PLC, after its recent restructure is focused on expanding all its businesses and some into the region, mainly through technological advancements, officials say.
Murali Prakash
Earlier, the group which seemed disconnected and in different areas that weren’t aligned, completed a major re-structuring to be in line with the global changes and face the techno-centric consumerism.
“We have had different generations starting from silent to baby boomers and lately millennials and now generation Z. Over the years we grew inorganically and then realised that with the new generation kicking in, we need to be future-centric and future proof. This is the reason we wanted to change,” Murali Prakash, CEO Ambeon told the Business Times. With the change, the group now has three main areas, he said.
Governance with risk management, compliance and safeguards is one area. Stakeholder wealth creation is another area. As the third area, the group wants to be more relevant to their customers.
Mr. Prakash noted that after the restructuring and with the above objectives achieved, the group is looking at positioning their brand ideology to be all about reengineering success. “In this endeavour, we have identified four pillars – moving fast, actioning results, channeling teamwork and seeing beyond,” Mr. Prakash explained.
He said with the recent restructuring all their business verticals are now very clear. “All the cross-holdings are eliminated by and large. The management structure was re-enacted. Now there is a group centric management that overlooks the companies but now we have essentially dedicated and focused management for each entity under the group,” he said.
With the restructuring, the group is clearly demarcated into three areas; financial sector, technology sector and investments.
Out of these three verticals, technology has become the most important catalyst for the group to forge ahead with their businesses and plan expansion strategies. Mr. Prakash stressed that acquiring the global IT Enterprise Solutions Provider (ESP), Millennium IT – ESP from London Stock Exchange now makes it part of the group’s core business. The group will be well positioned to pursue the global opportunities posed by Fintech and other enterprise businesses through this acquisition, he noted.
He explained that this acquisition is mainly about making the group future proof. “We are buoyant on technology as it has huge potential. The IT/BPO sector has grown by 100 per cent during the last five years.” The group is actively looking at regional play. In this regard Ambeon wants to venture into South Asia, Mr. Prakash noted. The group is now in the process of finalising its expansion strategy through IT products. “With technology and finance, we see potential for Fintech-related areas,” Mr. Prakash added. He added that in terms of the regional expansion, the group is looking at the Mekong region. He explained that Ambeon also wanted to be technologically savvy with their operations. “We are eyeing industry 4.0 transformation of all our factories,” he said adding that now Ambeon is an excellent systems integrator. “We can provide a roadmap for digital strategy.”
The group is also in the process of expanding the financial sector which consists of bonds, money broking and stocks. They are aiming at expanding business to business (B2B) or business to customer (B2C) areas. “We are exploring what we can do in the Fintech area in this regard and expanding virtually,” Mr. Prakash said.
Under investments, Ambeon has two subsectors – real estate and manufacturing. “Under the real estate subsector, we have Colombo City Holdings which is the land at Union Place which we have modeled as a real estate company. We are looking at expansion in real estate as the next strategy. We are essentially aiming at building and also making investments under this company. We may explore office space construction,” Mr. Prakash explained.
Ambion’s manufacturing subsector has four companies – namely Dankotuwa Porcelain, Ceylon Leather, Royal Fernwood and South Asia Textiles.
Mr. Prakash noted that both porcelain companies, Dankotuwa and Royal Fernwood are now being revamped into efficiency related changes.
They are now in the process of enhancing productivity and roping in technology-related processes for both these companies. Mr. Prakash added that Royal Fernwood after 15 years of losses made a complete turnaround last year. “Now we are realigning the factory, its processes and re-structuring its product portfolio.”
Ambion is also adding value to its textiles company, South Asia Textiles. Mr. Prakash said the group is looking at expanding capacity within the next two years in this company. They are also looking at inorganic expansion and hope to acquire other similar companies to align with this company.
Ambion has slowly transformed Ceylon Leather Products into a more retail and B2B brand, Mr. Prakash noted. “Now we are gradually trying to transform it into a B2C brand. We re-launched the DI brand. Now we are also trying to develop leather accessories under this company. We want to see whether this can be a potential revenue earner.”
Mr. Prakash stressed that in order for their businesses to run smoothly it is important to have clear macroeconomic fundamentals. He said that consistency in policy is the single biggest most important issue. “Now there is uncertainty in policy. It should be clear and continued. It should be people centered policy – especially on labour-related areas,” he stressed. There are so many skill gaps and labour shortages that firms are trying to battle right now. There are also legal issues such as the ability to have flexi-time employment for females. If this comes to light, there are many women that can be redirected into the labour force. “We should have human resources related policy reforms,” he said.