Dankotuwa Porcelain fighting for survival
Channa BANDARA WIJEKOON
Chairman and MD
Sunil G. Wijesinha |
Stakeholders of Dankotuwa Porcelain held a decisive meeting with the
Labour Department to save the company from liquidation on Tuesday.
“We were able to sign an agreement with the union for three years,
upon blessings of the Labour Department, Dankotuwa Porcelain Chairman
and Managing Director Sunil G. Wijesinha disclosed to Daily News
Business.
The company most probably will not go for liquidation. It was not the
collective agreement that we signed and we are optimistically working
towards signing it,” he said.
Porcelain products |
The present Japanese investor has a very cordial relationship with
the Sri Lankan Government and was very concerned about the liquidation
proposal, as it may create a very detrimental effect on the investor and
the company, in Japan and in Sri Lanka alike.
Wijesinha said they are in the process of having discussions with a
local investor too, which so far has been very fruitful.
The only concern is to sign a three-year collective agreement to
restructure the company without any resistance from unions, Wijesinha
said. In 2008, when the company announced the rights issue, unions came
out with a strike, which hampered the rights issuing process. The
anticipated target for issuing of rights was 240 million and the company
finally ended up with issuing only 15 million, which gave light to the
liquidation proposal.
Minority shareholders and Company analysts were opposed to the
liquidation proposal. Subsequently, a majority voted the proposal out,
which led the company to explore other alternatives to resuscitate the
company. |