Sept 12, 2011 (LBO) - Nimal Perera, who hails from rural Sri Lanka and is one of the Colombo bourse's biggest players, says a post-war stock market boom made him a multi-millionaire owning prime Colombo property.
The end of the island's 30-year ethnic war created conditions where 'outsiders' like him were able to make money in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) which hitherto had been dominated by Colombo's traditional elite, he said.
"I made all my money after May 19, 2009," he said referring to the day government forces killed Tamil Tiger separatist leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, ending the ethnic war. "Not a cent did I make before."
Perera spoke as a member of the panel at the 8th LBR LBO CFO FORUM which had as its theme 'CSE: A Blood Bath or a Gold Mine', held at Colombo's Ceylon Continental Hotel.
The forum debated the phenomenal rise of the stock market after the war which made it one of the world's best-performing bourses but which also prompted regulators to impose price bands and curb trading on borrowed money after extraordinary price volatility.
Critics have described the market as a 'cesspool' of indiscipline and a 'disgrace', where insider trading and lawlessness reigns.
Others have said the stock market is symptomatic of a larger breakdown of rule of law and justice that began with constitutional changes in 1972 and 1978 where insitutions of liberty and justice were systematically destroyed.
Perera, deputy chairman of Vallibel Finance, who also serves on the boards of several other firms including tile maker Royal Ceramics, described the CSE as "sacred" for having enabled him to become wealthy.
"The CSE is a very sacred place for me because I have come up to this level thanks to the CSE," he told the forum which was attended by a large gathering of senior corporate executives.
"I came from a village. I came to Colombo without a cent. I was just an investor like other retailers.
"Today people identify me as a high-net-worth investor. I became a high-net-worth individual because of this stock market and thanks to president (Mahinda) Rajapaksa, defence secretary and the three forces.
"They created a better environment for people like me, like us who came from the village to dominate this market which was dominated by Colombo 07 high class people all these years.
"Today we have taken over that position from these so-called Colombo 7 people," Perera said, referring to the Colombo 7 ward in the capital, long considered to have the island's prime residential property and homes to some of the wealthiest families.
"I didn’t make money from my job because from the Royal Ceramics' salary I can't make so much of money."
Perera also works as investment advisor to businessman Dhammila Perera (not related), who has been behind some of the biggest deals on the CSE in recent years. Dhammika Perera now controls the Hayleys conglomerate along with a string of other firms.
Perera said he himself now owned property in Colombo 7.
"Today I have one property in Colombo 07 - 40 perches which I bought at six million rupees a perch, and another property at Gower Street opposite the former Hayleys chairman's residence - also 40 (perches) at six million (rupees)," Nimal Perera said.
"So you can imagine how much money people like us can make from this market. Therefore, this CSE, it is not a goldmine, it is a sacred place for people like us."
source - www.lbo.lk
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