Category: Industry
’s Serendib Hotels to sell 20% stake to Thai resort operator, Minor International
Sept 05 (LBO) – Serendib Hotels said Tuesday it would go in for a private placement to sell a 19.90 percent stake in the company to Minor International Public Company Limited, a large Thai resort operator. The company, which owns a chain of three hotels Hotel Serendib, Club Hotel Dolphin and Sigiriya Hotel, plans to […]
Hasty Exit
Sept 04 (LBO) – The government has shelved a bidding round for oil exploration until it sorts out a battle with Norwegian company TGS Nopec to buy up three years worth of seismic data. TGS Nopec conducted seismic surveys in the Mannar Basin since 2002, with the government trying to buy back the data for […]
Bigger Bills
Sept 04 (LBO) – Ceylon Petroleum Corporation said Monday that it would jack up fuel prices with effect from midnight Monday, to offset losses made by the state utility. Petrol will go up by Rs. 5.00 a litre to 101 rupees, diesel by Rs.3.00 to Rs. 67.00 a litre and kerosene, largely used by rural […]
Joining Forces
Sept 04 (LBO) – NDB Bank said Monday that it had picked up a balance 70 percent stake in NDB Housing Bank, following Central Bank approval. NDB Bank held a 30 percent stake in the housing loan subsidiary, with the balance held by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Housing Development Finance Corporation of India (HDFC […]
Good Returns
September 04, 2006 (LBO) – The Distilleries Group is in talks to increase their equity stake in its fund management unit National Asset Management Ltd or NAMAL. Stassens, recently gave a billion rupees of its funds for NAMAL to manage. Healthy competition is good for both fund management companies, Fernando said referring to Aegis and […]
Charity Probe
Sep 04, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank, which froze the bank accounts of a charity operating in the country’s North and East areas said Monday, following raids on the organization’s overseas offices and arrests of persons connected to it raised doubts about the use funds. TRO said it was willing to ˜assist and fully […]
Common Issues
Sep 04, (LBO) – Finance ministers of commonwealth countries will try to find ways to improve aid delivery to developing countries and made aid more effective, when they meet in Colombo next week, host country Sri Lanka said. Delegates from 53 Commonwealth countries, led by prime ministers and finance ministers will meet in Colombo from […]
Cable Landing
September 01, 2006 (LBO) – Lanka Bell, one of Sri Lanka’s privately held wireless telecom operators, is in talks with India’s FLAG Telecom to lay an undersea cable linking both countries. The 25 million dollar deal is due to be inked shortly, with the cable also extended from Sri Lanka to the Maldives. “Once finalised […]
Bus Ride
SEOUL, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – South Korea’s high-tech giant Samsung Electronics on Thursday unveiled the world’s first fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology with a demonstration on a bus.Samsung said the new technology, an upgraded version of existing wireless communications platforms, would enable users to download 100 MP3 music files in less than 3 seconds — […]
Just Inquiring
August 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom is in talks to acquire a small software company to beef up its technical capacity and expand revenue streams. The island’s biggest fixed line operator plans to do a due diligence on eServices Lanka Ltd, SLT chief executive Shuhei Anan said Thursday. eServices Lanka Ltd is jointly […]
Half Empty
TOKYO, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – The global airline industry is expected to almost halve its losses in 2006 thanks to buoyant economic growth and deep cost cuts, the world’s top airline association said Thursday.The industry is now expected to lose 1.7 billion dollars in 2006, much less than the 3.0 billion loss previously feared […]
Fine Tuning
Aug 31, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines is in talks with regional carriers from India, Pakistan and the Middle East to carry out third party maintenance checks on aircraft, top airline officials said. The national carrier just successfully completed a multiple C check for an Emirates A330-200 aircraft, called the 4C5Y, usually carried out every […]