Environment facilitates growing confidence:
Global investors target Sri Lanka
Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA
The global investor community is keen on exploring opportunities in
Sri Lanka as there is a peaceful environment that facilitates growing
investor confidence. The next decade would be prosperous for the country
as there will be growth potential in its financial market, said Leopard
Capital Asia CEO, Douglas Clayton.
Leopard Capital Sri Lanka is a joint venture between Orion Capital
Partners in Sri Lanka and Leopard Capital of Hong Kong. It launched a
private equity fund to raise US $ 100 million by early next year.
Leopard Capital Asia CEO, Douglas Clayton and Ranjit
Fernando at the media briefing. Picture by Sumanachandra
Ariyawansa |
The Fund would nurture the Management Buy Out (MBO) market in Sri
Lanka. “There are many companies where the management does not get an
opportunity to make the relevant changes to capture growth and enhance
shareholders’ value due to lack of capital or shareholder disagreements.
Worldwide, the MBO becomes a solution for such problems and assists
good management teams to continue to grow businesses navigating around
shareholder issues. In the long term it ensures that companies have
longer lifecycles than shareholder groups. MBOs also allow long standing
family businesses to avoid decline and demise”, he said.
Leopard Sri Lanka Chairman, Ranjit Fernando said that with the advent
of peace in the country it is anticipated that there will be
unprecedented growth in the economy.
Many private companies which have traditionally depended on bank
funding and retained earnings will be faced with either having to
surrender growth opportunities to foreign companies with capital or to
conglomerates with capital or else seek capital for expansion.
Leopard Sri Lanka will also assist in supporting this growth capital
requirement among mid-sized Sri Lankan companies.
Sri Lanka has a conducive regulatory environment to attract
investors. With the introduction of an equity fund of this nature it
would help change the corporate landscape.
The Fund will focus on development impact, good governance,
scalability of business, quality of management team and transparency in
the potential investing companies.
It would invest in tourism, IT, financial services and the retail
sectors and would provide capital to enhance business, he said.
Leopard Capital Sri Lanka works in collaboration with international
experts in the field of investment management and capital mobilization
and a team of Sri Lankan managers who have built a reasonable network in
Sri Lanka with insights in to Sri Lankan business. Leopard Capital plans
to bring a great deal of international business linkages that will
assist Sri Lankan companies to access global markets.
A two-day investor forum will be held from today to showcase the
country’s potential growth sectors and entrepreneurship skills to
coincide with the launch of Leopard Capital Sri Lanka. |