A subsidiary company of business tycoon Harry Jayawardena’s Distilleries Company Plc yesterday had bought the controlling stake of Pelwatte Sugar, from Master Divers, a company owned by businessman Ariyaseela Wickramanayake.
Distilleries in a Stock Exchange filing informed the Colombo bourse that its fully owned subsidiary Melstacorp Private Limited has bought 31, 966, 000 shares or 47 percent of Plewatte Sugar Industries at Rs.27.50 per share, down Rs. 9.20 from the previous closing price. The deal took place in four major crossings amounting to Rs.879 million.
According to Ariyaseela Wickramanayake, Managing Director of Master Divers and Director of Pelwatte Sugar Industries, Distilleries now has the controlling stake or the 51 percent of Pelwatte Sugar.
“Now Distilleries Company has the control of Pelwatte Sugar. But I have retained the control of Pelwatte Dairy” Wickramanayake told Mirror Business.
It is believed that 50 percent of Pelwatte Dairy is owned by Pelwatte Sugar and the other half by Wickramanayake. Pelwatte Dairy has been planning to go public for a while.
“Pelwatte Sugar needs cash and a tough hand to run its business” Wickramanayake pointed out.
Even though yesterday’s crossings amounted to 47 percent of Pelwatte, on Monday and Tuesday around 3 million shares of Pelwatte traded, much higher than the yesterday’s share price of Rs.27.50.
In a Stock Exchange filing on Tuesday, Master Divers informed the market that they have sold around 3.2 percent of shares they held in Plewatte. Brokers believe that those shares were bought by retailers.
Yet Wickramanayake’s statement to Mirror Business that Distilleries now has 51 percent of Pelwatte seems quite contrasting to the assumption made by brokers.
“If it was Distilleries or one of its related companies that bought Pelwatte shares on Monday and Tuesday, I presume the mandatory offer price by Distilleries would be higher than Rs..27.50, as they now crossed the 30 percent threshold,”, an analyst commented on the ground of anonymity.
However, two days back, Wickramanayake told Mirror Business that he has no reason to divest either his personal stake or Master Divers’ holding, as the international sugar prices are doing quite well.
As at December 31, 2010 Master Diver held 55.56 million shares or 81.7 percent in Pelwallte, while Wickramanayake in his personal capacity held 3.24. Pelwatte has 67.98 million shares in issue.
After four major crossings at Rs.27.50, Plewatte share reached the day’s highest of Rs.38 and closed at Rs.35.20.
source - www.dailymirror.lk
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