BoI studying Apollo take over

Shirajiv Sirimane

TAKEOVER: Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the Daily News yesterday that the recent ownership change of Apollo Hospital, Colombo was a clear violation of Board of Investment (BoI) guidelines and action should be carefully studied before taking action.

He said that BoI provided a 7-acre land belonging to the Sri Lanka Transport Board and has also offered a 12-year tax holiday to the Apollo Hospital project in addition to many other incentives.

"This was identified as a BoI venue and we gave the project flagship status. If an investor fails to pay taxes and violate regulation, action would be taken against them," said the Minister.

Meanwhile, the Lanka Hospitals Director K. Padmanabhan said in a letter to the Colombo Stock Exchange on Tuesday that LHC had tendered its entire holding of shares as part of the open offer by Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.

The letter further stated that the agreement is only between the BoI and LHC and is not conditional upon Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. or any other group of shareholders being shareholders of the company.