Three salterns from Raigam

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Raigam will invest Rs 200 million on three new salterns in Tangalle, Trincomalee and Puttalam.

Raigam Group Chairman, Ravi Liyanage said that all set to complete the work of the first ever salt refinery in Tangalle which will commence operations before August.

He was speaking at a press conference at the Merchant Bank Auditorium on Tuesday to announce the over subscription of Raigam Wayamba Salterns Initial Public Offering(IPO) making a record.

He said the Group’s first priority will be to meet the national salt requirements paving the way to stop importing salt.

The excess salt production will be diverted to manufacture salt based chemicals.

The problem is that the price of salt packets go up as a result of adding transport costs which is much higher than the value of salt. It is more economical to sell the production in near-by areas. The setting up of salterns in three different areas will solve this problem.

The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka will provide more opportunities in the next couple of months with greater investment prospects through the IPO for both local and foreign investors, Liyanage said.

Raigam Wayamba Salterns has decided the allotment basis for all valid applications. Hundred percent allotment was given for those who applied 1000-5000 shares and for those who applied for over 5000 shares were given 5000 plus 2.12 percent from the balance.

MBSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said the success of the IPO was driven by many factors.

“MBSL groomed Raigam Salt for the IPO until it was the right moment to go public to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Harnessing investor groups with all market segments using a strong network chain of network contacts and strong future growth prospects resulted in the oversubscription”, he said.