Category: Industry
Habib Bank moves out
Habib Bank AG Zurich was formally taken over by Hatton National Bank recently.rn rnAcquisition of Habib bank quote s assets of over 2 billion rupees has strengthened HNB quote s balance sheet of over 100 billion rupeesrn rnInternational banks are moving out to concentrate on familiar markets closer to home. rn rnldblquote Strategic decision taken […]
Matchmaking
The first phase saw the CEO of US based Washington Technology Partners Inc., Abhishek Jain scope out Sri Lankan companies best suited to support selected US IT market.rn rnOn his return to the US, Jain will shortlist around 15 companies and match them with US companies in early 2003 supporting direct business links. rn rnIn […]
Flat Roofs
The government plans to offer subsidies to promote low and middle-income houses through the November budget.rn rnState pension funds are talking to specialised housing banks like State Mortgage and Investment Bank and Housing Development Finance Corp. to lend around Rs. 150 mn at concessionary terms. rn rnSources said the Employees Provident Fund plans to lend […]
Single Lane
Malaysian based Road Builder Holdings has become the sole contender to finance and manage the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway.Work on the US$ 130 mn highway has started with the Treasury allocating Rs.10 bn to Keangnam Construction Company.rn rnNearly 14 parties earlier expressed interest to finance and take over management of the highway, eventually running it as a […]
Wind Chimes
The new communications act floating in parliament at present, will decide Lanka Bells future business strategy, CEO Joey Mendoza says. For now the company is concentrating on being a valued telecom services provider, with Internet being one of the value-added services.rn rnMendoza says present plans did not include offering internet as a independent service, but […]
Overseas Call
Sri Lanka Telecom plans to issue Luxembourg traded global depository receipts as part of its public offering to foreign investors. Top SLT officials said the book building exercise for a 15 percent slice, is tipped to start after November 15, for the dual listing in Colombo and Luxembourg.rn rnDFCC Bank will manage the IPO, with […]
Intel Inside
Leading chipmaker Intel is bullish about the local market for its products. The company says the high social indicators and low penetration of computers leaves a lot of room for expansion.rn rnldblquote Earlier this year 1 billion PCs were sold in the world. If you look at the way they were used 75% was sold […]
Open Codes
Computer software giants world over, make money by selling proprietary products. However few software developers in emerging economies market proprietary software products.Local policy markers want software developers to market their own products creating more value.rn rnAn IT roadmap the government is working on also seeks to establish the country as a world class IT center. […]
House Hunting
State pension funds are eyeing long term housing bank debenture issues in an attempt to correct their assets and liability mismatch.rn rnState controlled Employees Provident and the Trust quote s fund managers are in discussions with three housing banks to purchase their debentures.rn rnState Mortgage and Investment Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation and NDB Housing […]
JCT doing well
Container-traffic at the Colombo Port jumped by a mammoth twenty three percent in September, bucking an export growth trend.The Ports authority says the productivity at the Jaya Terminal at the Colombo port has also doubled with the introduction of a new incentive payment scheme.rn rnThe Jaya Container Terminal gantries are now shifting over seventy containers […]
Home Extensions
Despite a lack of hype, Lanka Cellular Services, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited will roll out three more GSM switches in Colombo, Kandy and Galle as part of its ongoing network expansion.Hutchison, primarily operating an Analog service, has already deployed a number of Global Standards for Mobile communication (GSM) switches outside Colombo.rn rnThe three […]
Wider Scope
Ceylinco Securities & Financial Services says it plans to get into the investment-banking sector.rn rnCurrently handling all types of investment related work, the firm says it has applied to the Central Bank for a specialized banking licence.rn rnWith eight branches strategically located islandwide, Ceylinco Securities provides a range of services including, stock broking (through Ceylinco […]