Colombo Fort borrows Rs. 520 m for Group Treasury

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

The Colombo Fort Land and Building Co PLC has obtained loans aggregating to Rs. 520 m from its subsidiaries - Lankem Tea and Rubber Plantations (Pvt) Ltd - Rs. 380 m, Lankem Plantation Holdings (Pvt) Ltd - Rs. 20 m and KIA Motors Lanka Ltd (Rs. 120 m).

The consolidated borrowings from the subsidiary companies of the Group has been for the purposes of establishing a Group Treasury, Lankem Group Managing Director Anushman Rajaratnam told Daily News Business last night.

The funds have been borrowed at an interest rate of 6% per annum with effect from September 1 and the borrowings have been for Group Treasury and investment purposes, Colombo Fort Land and Building has told the Colombo Stock Exchange yesterday.

"This is a diverse business group and there could be various operational synergies that we could look at when the investments are under one roof which could also help us in our negotiations with the banks and other parties," he said.

He also asserted that there were investment plans in the pipeline immediately yet through it had been mentioned in the notification to the Colombo Stock Exchange. "This was in the event of future investment options arising," he said.