SLT not for sale

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is not planning to sell its 49.2 percent government owned stake or any part of it to a telecommunication firm in the UAE as speculated in the media and the stock market, a company spokesman said.

“We have not been given the green light by the government about such a development,” he told The Sunday Times FT, adding that this is highly unlikely and they had not got any intimation to this effect by the Treasury.

“This was just market speculation,” the official said, adding that the government has no intention to sell a profitable business. The balance SLT stake is held by Japan NTT Communications Corporation (35.2 percent) while 15.3 percent is owned by the public. Last week SLT told the Colombo Stock Exchange that it was unaware of any reason as to why there was an ‘unusual volume’ of shares traded from October 2 to 25.

“Considering the fact that the company’s shares are one of the most liquid shares in the CSE we are unable to consider the trading of 8.9 million shares during this period as having any material significance, especially when the market is on an upward momentum,” Shuhei Anan, CEO of SLT has said.