Smooth Landing

Mar. 07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Distilleries Group said Tuesday that they have picked up the controlling stake in the island's pioneering unit trust management company, National Asset Management Ltd or NAMAL from DFCC Bank. The Distilleries Group, controlled by business tycoon Harry Jayawardena currently runs its own fund management unit called Aegis which largely manages surplus funds of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC).

The largely privately held diversified conglomerate has significant interest in tourism, leisure, hotel holding, hotel management, shipping, logistics, printing, power generation, insurance, plantations and fabric processing through its several subsidiaries.

NAMAL's acquisition, which took place last Friday was carried out through Milford Holdings, a subsidiary of Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka.

Milford also owns 85 percent of SLIC.

"The consideration of around Rs.68 million was determined on the basis of the net asset value of the shares," Distilleries Group Director Damien Fernando said in a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange.

The Distilleries group is also a major shareholder of DFCC Bank.

DFCC Bank, will now hold 26 percent of NAMAL (down from 80 percent), w