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Reminiscences

'Kandalama, Club Rannhali my indelible moments'

The Rolls Royce engine of the privately chartered Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, flying three private sector tourism industry idols and a professional luminary, was droning at 350 Revolutions Per Minute on a resplendent day in April 1992.

Former Group Chairman of

Aitken Spence PLC, Chairman of the Tourism Cluster and Secretary General/CEO of the Ceylon

Chamber of Commerce

Emelianus Prema Alphonse Cooray reminisces

The rotor blades and the tail rotor were also swirling simultaneously with the same vibration and momentum, giving the aircraft maximum power to cruise and glide at an altitude of 5,000 feet over the Dambulla Rock Fortress and Kandalama Tank.

The mission was to determine an idyllic and eco-friendly location for a tourism complex. The passengers on board were the late Aitken Group Chairman Ratna Sivaratnam, (then Main Board Director overlooking the tourism sector of the Group) his Travels Managing Director Manil De Mel and his Hotels Managing Director Prema Cooray. The professional luminary was Architect Geoffrey Bawa.

"This was due to the belief of the Aitken Spence Group being upbeat on establishing a five star hotel in Dambulla, as entrepot to the Cultural Triangle and with competitor John Keells Holdings having Habarana Lodge and Habarana Village hotels and we had to match the competition," former Group Chairman of Aitken Spence PLC, Chairman of the Tourism Cluster and Secretary General/CEO of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Emelianus Prema Alphonse Cooray told Daily News Reminiscences.

The quartet was enchanted by the variegation of what caught the eye. Fleeting glimpses of luscious vegetation, paddy fields, palm fringed banks, lakes, waterways, fortified by jungle thickets and shrub jungle. Suddenly, Bawa beckoned his attention to the trio, while pointing to a rocky formation claiming: "That is the best place to build.

"It was no easy excursion. No road access to the venue and we had to walk through shrub jungle and rocky formations, Prema said, adding that he oft contemplated as to how a house could be built there, leave alone a hotel, and a five star at that.

Visibly hurt


Prema Cooray pushing the lawn mover at his Rosmead Place home garden, but may be not with the same aggression he pushed Kandalama, Bathaala and Meedhupaaru.
Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe

There was no environmental clearance for the project at that time. With Government approvals, the problems started. which commenced from the Chief Prelate of the Dambulla Raja Maha Viharaya, who was the "Lord" of the area as nothing goes through without his approvals and blessings. He was visibly hurt that we did not consult him and he vowed that he was to commit suicide if the hotel saw the light of day, Prema reminisced.

It was more negligence than intent, he said.

The principal allegations were that that the hotel was to consume all the water, depriving farmers their rightful share for paddy cultivation and also that he hotel was to upset the social fabric of the area, the village the temple and the lake.

The project went to Court. The presiding Judge was no less than incumbent Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva. The Court decided that the project had to go for a public inquiry due to its sensitive nature. Developers Aitken Spence was told that it was proceeding at its own risk.

The Vauxhall Street blue chip came out on top after the completion of the public inquiry. All the allegations were countered with scientific data. The project was approved while the project was half complete.

Global benchmarks

Among initial benchmarks of the 160 roomed hotel was beating Hilton Colombo, an international cuisine and later being adjudged by UK's Saga Holidays as the best property in the world for international cuisine among 1,200 hotels in the world.

Besides Sivaratnam, Prema was also the first employee of Aitken Spence Travels and Hotels where he joined travels, the very day it was formed. Aitken Spence Travels, with an initial share capital of Rs. 300,000 grew dramatically in three years from an initial Rs. 5 million to Rs. 100 million, largely attributable to the TUI Agency got from Browns, Jet Tours and Scan Tours. That was when Sri Lanka had hit the 400,000 arrivals mark with Aitken Spence contributing a 15% of that single handedly.

Career change

Mulling a career change and simultaneously lured by an irresistible offer by Ernst and Young batch mate and former Sri Lanka opening batsman Mitra Wettimuny, Prema joined Stafford Motors as its Group General Manager in 1980 during economic boom where he sold 35,000 Honda bikes a month. "It was then that I graduated from the motor-cycle at Spence to the chauffer driven car," he mused.

Realising marketing motor-cycles was not his psyche, he ventured with the Dolphin Hotel for the Stafford Group. Not inhibited by the usual drawbacks of lack of infrastructure and resource personnel, Prema also drew a syndicated Rs. 32 million DFCC Bank/ NDB Bank loan and also further Rs. 10 million, off an IPO amid depressed market conditions.

It was just after the 1983 communal riots which made hotel marking difficult which he bitterly complained to Sivaratnam when they went to the ITB Fair at Berlin, which was also Prema's first. But, Prema managed to get the top operators TUI and Kuoni which resulted in 55 of the 84 rooms booked at Dolphin.

It was also then that Prema managed to successfully negotiate with the India's giant Welcome Group, Franchisees of the Sheraton chain and also the hotel arm of Indian Tobacco Co. PLC. Dolphin got the Welcome Group to manage it and profits soared, Prema reminisced.

Tryst with destiny

Prema had his tryst with destiny. Having not severed connections with his former employers, especially Sivaratnam, he was told that the General Manager of Aitken Spence Hotel Managements Chandrajith had left. When Sivaratnam told Prema that he was the obvious choice, Prema said that he had just negotiated with Wings of London, leaving room for Sivaratnam to quip: "Prema, you might have to do that job here!!" Prema was soon reflecting what the allusion was. What Sivaratnam had not told him was that he too had negotiated with Wings!!

Rannhali - the trendsetter

If Prema and the team did the impossible with Kandalama, then it was Club Rannhali in the Maldives, the trendsetter. The first Sri Lankan hotel in the Maldives and the first of the three Spence hotels there with Bathaala Resort followed by Meedhipaaru. The entry into Maldives was the most difficult as Sivaratnam discovered from the 1970s with the prohibitive tax regime of the Abdul Gayoom Government. But an informal chat with a Maldivian friend Husni Mohamed who advised on the manner in which Maldivians do business over a cup of coffee, Prema made the initial breakthrough.

The next challenge was to find the US$ 8 million for Club Rannhali. With a weak Aitken Spence Hotels Balance Sheet and with Rs. 65 million profit, barely a million dollars then, the Bank of Ceylon virtually refused with exorbitant interest rates. Then the next he had to turn to was Hatton National Bank Managing Director/ CEO Rienzie T. Wijetilleke, his close friend when he started at Spence Travels as Head of Finance.

Rienzie had initially insisted Prema on a Corporate Guarantee only to be told by Sivaratnam and the rest of the Spence Main Board that it was impossible to mortgage the company. The then Spence Hotels Balance Sheet was more fragile as a cut glass ash tray! Times were despondent. Tourism was at rock bottom.

Repeated negotiations based on Prema's ethos that just as much as bankers help corporates, it was apt when even in the vice versa, Prema told Rienzie : " I have a fine opportunity for you in the Maldives" Rienzie thundered: " Prema, please cut the frills out. Tell me what do you want?"!!

Rienzie saw the opportunity both for HNB and Aitken Spence and wanted Prema to give a Letter of Comfort which was not even legally binding. The project got off, symbolic of the adage that the private sector operates on patronage. Profits soared enabling Spence to mitigate the losses of the Group's local hotels within the Group. There would not have been Spence Hotels in the Maldives without Rienzie, Prema said.

Rienzie later told Prema: "I do not know how you pulled it off. Nobody would have given you that under normal circumstances.

It was also at a recent cocktails and dinner party that the trio of Prema Rienzie and tycoon Harry Jayawardena met. Harry, widely known for his meticulous precision on numbers and whose listed Distilleries later acquired both HNB and Spence, might have been swathed in perspiration in his lounge attire when Prema looked at him in his eye, while simultaneously nudging Rienzie said: "Sir, this is the man who loaned me five and a half million Dollars on a platter based on a project report, handwritten and virtually scribbled on a single A-4 Sheet !

Prema started life as a Trainee at Ernst and Young where in addition to Sri Lanka Cricketer Mitra Wettimuny, had among others two batchmates who, like him, emerged as Chairmen of listed blue chips. While Prema was Chairman Aitken Spence, the other two were: Hemaka Amarasuriya (Singer Group) and A.A. (pet named Baba) Page, (Ceylon Theatres Group). There was also cricket philosopher Mahinda Wijesinghe of Third Umpire fame.

Born to a family steeped in rich Catholic tradition, he was named Emelianus, a Saint. Prema was normal. Alphonse, a Spanish name, had a reason behind a mushy family tradition. His father was also Alphonse, being the third son of his family. Prema being the third son of his family was also named as Alphonse.

However, the richest part of the family saga was when Prema named his third son, a Doctor, after doctor- and- banker sons, also as Alphonse, making the grandson the third son in three consecutive generations to carry the same forename. A veritable rarity indeed.

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