lanka ashok leyland partners tea production up …pdfs.island.lk/2010/08/20/b8.pdflanka ashok...

Friday 20th August, 2010

Friday 20th August, 2010

Lanka Ashok Leyland PLC(LAL) has announced a partner-ship with SMB Leasing PLC (for-merly the Seylan Merchant BankGroup) as part of management’sstrategic initiative to provide atotal transport solution to theNorth and East.

“Intended to facilitate LankaAshok Leyland’s rapid expansionin these areas to support theirpost-conflict resurgence, the movewill result in SMB Leasing repre-senting LAL as a total transportsolution provider in the twoprovinces,” the company said in astatement.

“This will encapsulate distri-bution for LAL vehicles, provid-ing after-sales service, spare partssupport, warranty obligations, inaddition to leasing, and financ-ing. Furthermore, SMB Leasingwill also provide integral supportfor LAL infrastructure expan-

sion, namely the construction ofstate-of-art after sales service cen-ters, highway repair centers,spare parts outlets and vehicleshowrooms in the North and theEast.”

Given the surging demand forLAL vehicles in the North andEast, LAL with SMB Leasinghave earmarked for completion atleast six sites for construction ofmodern workshop facilities bythe end of 2010 according toUmesh Gautam, CEO of LAL.

“Lanka Ashok Leyland hadjust entered into an agreementwith People’s Leasing Companyfor the supply of 1000 busesbefore 31st March 2011 with themajority set for delivery to theNorth and the East. This hadexpedited the need for LankaAshok Leyland workshops andspare parts facilities in theregions and the agreement with

SMB Leasing will help facilitatesuch expansion,” he said.

“The north and east representan important market for us, notonly in terms of business, but interms of the opportunity thatpresents itself to support the gov-ernment’s and the private sector’sefforts to develop transport infra-structure. In this context, weneed to partner with a committedinstitution with the flexibilityand vision to look beyondfinance, at total solutions.”

He said Lanka Ashok Leylandhad held discussions with SMBLeasing on a holistic solutionsmodel for the north and east, andwas pleased with the company’senthusiasm for the concept.

Details of the services to beextended to Lanka Ashok Leylandcustomers in the two provincesthrough SMB Leasing are beingworked out, Gautam said.

The University of Kelaniyawalked away as the Championsof the MTI Venture Challenge, theteam comprising of RuwaniRajapakse, Ashani Ratnayake,and Andrea Sugunasekera pre-sented their venture on LegalProcess Outsourcing and Judgesdeemed them the winners of theChallenge. They walked awaywith the MTI Venture Challengetrophy, notebooks from Toshibaand Blackberries.

Team John Keells Capital, whopresented on Diagnostic HealthCare, was declared Runners upof the Venture Challenge, the

team members MadurangaKulathilaka, Inshard Naizer andHishan Singhawansa were alsoawarded trophies.

Speaking at the event, MTICEO Mr. Hilmy Cader shared thekey learning’s of this experience,“There is the scarcity of simplicityin businesses today and a currentneed for business plans to besimple yet clear with an under-standing which makes financialsense. Don’t be afraid to thinkand ask questions and challengeconventional thinking and weneed to realize that there is aworld outside Sri Lanka’’

Lanka Ashok Leyland partners SMB Leasing to serve North & East!! major expansion of infrastructure and services in the pipeline

The proud winners of the University of Kelaniya.

Kelaniya University wins MTI Venture Challenge

From page 1Based on this criterion Environmental

Resources Investment PLC applied for andobtained the approval of the Central Bank ofSri Lanka for the use of part of the fundsbrought into Sri Lanka for the acquisition ofERL of the BVI which held a portfolio of for-eign assets.

ERI BVI...ERL BVI is a company which is incorporat-

ed in the British Virgin Islands. It is owned byan entity named Osiris International Trustees[ÒOSITÓ] which is incorporated in BVI. Theultimate beneficiary of the trustees isLionhart Investment Ltd. ERI has in agree-ment dated 14th December 2009 with OSTIwhereby OSTI has agreed to sell the entiretyof the ownership of ERL BVI to ERI a price ofnot more than USD 76Mn.

Assets of ERL BVI...The price of the company was based on a

valuation of the portfolio obtained from BakerTilly, a reputed accounting firm with an inter-national presence. The Share PurchaseAgreement further provides that the pay-ments will be spread out over ten (10)tranches as per the Exchange ControlApproval, subject to the receipt of funds byERI from Lionhard through periodic RightsIssues and Warrants by ERI. Moreover, the

amount of each tranche payable shall bebased on a valuation of the portfolio prior tothe date of payment, (subject to the overallcap of USD 76 million) thereby allowing forany additional appreciation above USD 76million to pass freely to ERI. If the value ofthe portfolio is less than USD 76 million thenthe lesser value will be paid. ERL BVI’sassets include shares of Eastern Platinum(ERL) which is publicly listed Toronto StockExchange (Public -TSX; ELR), as well asincluded two unlisted corporate bonds. Sincethere were concerns that the bonds includedin the portfolio were illiquid, ERI further suc-ceeded in having them replaced with 2 port-folio of shares. Ile shares that replaced thebonds are named Mukuba ResourcesLimited (Public - TSX-Venture: MKU) whichis a explorer of copper mine in Zambia and islisted on the Toronto Stock Exchange, andshares of Ferrox

Holdings Limited company, unlisted andincorporated in South Africa engaged in theexploration of natural resource of Iron oreand Titanium dioxide in South Africa.

Remittances made to date by ERI...We further wish to state for the complete-

ness of disclosure that Lionhart has remitteda sum of Rs.1,943,243,300/- (USD16,912474.33), Rs. 1,881,032,280 (USD

16,428,229-52) and Rs.1,595,000,000/-(USD 14,102,564.10) to ERI by way of sub-scription to two Rights Issues and warrants,out of which two (2) tranches dated 6th Apriland 19th May 2010 have been remitted inthe sums of Rs. 432,454/-(USD6,426,740.24) and Rs. 714,792,266 (USD6,261,868.30) to OSTI to date. Third tranchefrom the warrant conversion of 2010 has yetto be paid.

Custody of securities...All securities owned by ERL BVI which

includes Eastern, Platinum (ERL), MukubaResources Limited and Ferrox HoldingsLimited are presently held in a custodianrelationship by a company named PhotonGlobal Limited, [‘PGL’] which is incorporatedin BVI for the reason that PGL provides ERLBVI with custodian and settlement servicesand trading access on the Toronto StockExchange. However, ERI is presently seek-ing to. make arrangements for its securitiesto be held through a local custodian.

Further the Board Directors of ERI wish tostate that it has constantly advised share-holders and investors to take caution byunderstanding the investment objective andstrategy of the ERI and to make informedinvestment decisions when investing in theshares of the company.

ERI clarifies its position

From page 1Brokers said green tea was

making inroads into the demandcycle with recent medical evi-dence suggesting that it couldcure certain forms of cancer,and was also a post-curativeagent.

Green Tea is now beingoffered at weekly auctions inColombo. Green tea producedduring the first seven months ofthis year amounted to 1.9 mil-

lion kilos. The Tea Board saidonly about 12 tea factories main-

ly in the Central Hills, producedgreen tea.

Other category exported was10.7 million CTC teas (cut twistand curl).

Low growns were still mainproduce leaders. To date, theircontribution was 113.1 millionkilos.

High growns, situated on thebest tea land this country couldlay claim to, produces onlyabout 48.042 kilos.

Tea production up 23.4%

From page 1ERI warrants also posted price gains and

volume with W0002 up Rs.5.30 to close atRs.58.60 on over 1.2 million warrants trad-ed, W0003 up Rs.4.90 to close at Rs.54.70on nearly 1 million and W0006 up Rs.4.90 toclose at Rs.54.40 on over 0.5 million traded.

Marawila saw nearly 5 million sharesdone gaining Rs.1.20 to close at Rs.13.90

while Keells Hotels was up 80 cents toRs.21.30 on over 2.6 million traded.

The ERI board made a Stock Exchangefiling clarifying its position in the marketabout its investment in EnvironmentResources Limited of the British VirginIslands.

The detailed announcement outlined acomplex inter-connected web of invest-

ments in various overseas companies in themineral industry. The statement concludedsaying that the ERI board wished to statethat it has constantly advised shareholdersand investors “to take caution by under-standing the investment objective and strat-egy of ERI and make informed investmentdecisions when investing in shares of thecompany.”

Bull run continues on CSE