Sri Lanka islet resort by Six Senses chain

Sept 09, 2009 (LBO) – International luxury hotel chain Six Senses is to manage a resort built on an islet on the north west coast of Sri Lanka becoming the first tourism project to be announced after an ethnic war ended, officials said. The 60 mangrove boutique chalets will located within inland water bodies and […]

Sri Lanka Malinga, Samaraweera star in win

September 8, 2009 (AFP) – Lasith Malinga grabbed three wickets off five deliveries to bowl Sri Lanka to a crushing 97-run win over New Zealand in a tri-series match here on Tuesday.The paceman finished with a career-best 4-28 as New Zealand were dismissed for 119 chasing a 217-run target on a slow pitch in the […]

Sri Lanka power firm looks for Rs600mn in IPO

Sept 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hemas Power, a unit of listed Hemas Holdings is seeking up to 626 million rupees through a sale of 31.3 million shares to increase investments in renewable energy. The firm is pushing for growth by moving into renewable energy. It already has a 2MW run of the river […]

Rate War

Sept 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom, the island’s dominant fixed line operator, said it was offering lower rates and discounts in new subscriber packages amid intensifying competition among phone companies.Existing SLT customer switching to new packages will be charged a transfer fee while those sticking to their ‘Home’ and ‘Business’ standard packages will […]

Cost Management

Sept 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank is cutting costs and focusing on recoveries to put the bank back on a stronger financial footing, members of an interim board appointed by the regulator said. At bank level gross loans were 101.8 billion and bad loans were 32.1 billion rupees. Seylan reported 187.8 million […]

Freight Costs

Sept 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shippers say they will resist efforts by international shipping lines to raise freight rates this month at a time of over-capacity by switching to smaller lines if necessary.Global lines led by Maersk, the world’s biggest container carrier, have announced rate hikes from September 1. CMA CMG and Evergreen […]

Bank Issue

Sept 06, 2009 (LBO) – A 54.2 million sale of fresh voting shares in Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank to raise 1.9 billion rupees, after it was put under new management by regulators, has attracted the interest of foreign funds, a top official said. The Ceylinco group controlled the bank through its own shares as well […]

New Zealand embarrass Sri Lanka again in T20

September 4, 2009 (AFP) – Daniel Vettori’s New Zealand recorded their second Twenty20 success over Sri Lanka in three days with a 22-run victory on Friday that helped them sweep the two-match series. Bond removed the in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan with his fifth ball, caught at deep square leg, before Kyle Mills dismissed Mahela Udawatte and […]

Indian Interest

Sept 04, 2009 (LBO) – India’s state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is planning to buy Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular’s Sri Lanka operations, a media report said.The management committee of BSNL on Wednesday approved a proposal to bid for thee firm, India’s Hindustan Times newspaper said. Millicom International is selling its operations in Sri Lanka, […]

New Managers

Sept 04, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Asian Finance Ltd, and Ceylinco Investment and Realty Ltd, two firms of the troubled Ceylinco group will be put under a new managing agent, the Central Bank said. MBSL has been asked to “restore their normal business operations to strengthen the viability of the companies,” by the regulator. […]

Loss Transfer

Sept 03, 2009 (LBO) – Citibank Sri Lanka has transferred billions of rupees of losses from a defaulted derivative deal with a state-run oil retailer to a foreign unit and the local branch has retained its ‘AAA(lka)’ rating, Fitch Ratings said. At end-December 2008, the top 20 loans had accounted for 93.1 percent of total […]

Abandoned Property

Sept 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it has issued new instructions to banks to put assets unclaimed by customers for a long period to an account in the Central Bank. All licensed commercial banks holding any abandoned property are required to inform the banking regulator each year and transfer such monies […]

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