‘The Nation’ gets new minority investor

The publisher of The Nation and Rivira newspapers has sold a minority stake in the company as he was losing money and was looking out for an interested investor.

Dr Sena Yaddehige, Chairman of Rivira Media Corp whose publishing arm started about two years ago, told The Sunday Times that, “we were losing too much money and needed another investor in.” He said the same independent editorial policy will remain.

“Nissanka (the new investor) is based in London and as far as I am aware he has no connections to the government or the Rajapaksa family,” he said, when asked whether the investor was connected to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The new investor has purchased a 49 percent stake and Dr Yaddihege said he had no intention of selling off the balance stake.
The investor Sujith (Nissanka) Rajapakse is a London-based businessman. Dr Yaddehige claimed the Richard Peiris Group (RPC), of which he is chairman, is doing well. “Sometimes there are problems when interest rates go up, however we are fine,” he said when asked to comment on RPC’s finances.