ධම්මික පෙරේරා Dhammika Perera: Awakening The Giants
මේක ටිකක් දිග ආටිකල් එකක්.මම ටිකක් කොට කරලා දැම්මෙත්.ඒත් බිස්නස් කරන්න ඉන්න අයට වැදගත් වෙයි කියලා හිතනවා...
From - http://businesstoday.lk/
By Udeshi Amarasinghe
Can you tell us how you have become who you are today?
It was through hard work not necessarily physical work but mentally where I was able to analyses and develop successful business models. From the beginning I worked only according to a mathematical structure or model. Through that I know the quickest and best path to take and as such make decisions quickly. At that moment I am 100% sure that my decisions are correct. When I input the required data into the business model and if it fits then I know that the decision is correct. Therefore it is not difficult to move from one place to another. It doesn’t take me long to decide whether a business is good or bad and the decision is made within a short period of time. I will go as far as I can. From my childhood I have been very interested in electronics and electrical items. I entered the Katubedda University but later decided to leave and pursue my business interests. It is from that passion that I began my first business. From the money I earned from that I began a machine manufacturing business where we sold and rented as well. I started this business in 1987 and the factory was behind my ancestral home in Payagala, Kalutara. Till 1991 this is what I did. The business consisted of two models, one was manufacturing and selling, the other was manufacturing and renting, both brought in money.
Tito Electronics was your first step what can you tell us about this?
At the same time that I was manufacturing I had a shop where we repaired electronic circuit boards that was called Tito Electronics in Colpetty. It is from there that all the other business models were developed. Then I went on to car sales in 1991 and shipping. At that time, when you look at where you can invest money and get the best returns those were the best areas. In 1992-93 we ventured into gaming as well. We started casinos. The ownership was ours but the management was a different company. My working strategy is owning the business not operations, not running the business. I must stress this point that my interest lies only in owning the business not running it. I will rectify any problems in the management but once it is running smoothly I will undertake only the ownership. The professionals will run the business. When you take my business models only professionals can run the business. If there are any shortcomings in those who manage the business then we will step in and rectify it.
PABC was your first acquisition, what was the thinking behind this?
At the time I acquired Pan Asia Bank it was a loss making financial institution. Even though it was a bank it was loss making. But we were able to bring it up to a profit making company.
After the purchase of Pan Asia Bank, I met Nimal Perera. He is the person who does all my acquisitions. We make the decision and he takes the acquisition to completion.
When you look at Pan Asia Bank today, do you think it is a success?
I can say that I am really happy at the progress they have made from the day it was acquired. The steps they have taken are immense. They have built up a significant branch network, developed their capital and are making substantial profit. I am extremely pleased with their achievements.
Why did you acquire NDB?
I tried to acquire NDB Bank for two reasons; CTC Eagle was owned by the bank and then through NDB I wanted to acquire Sampath Bank. It is for these two reasons that I went into NDB. But when I got there I realised that I would not be able to buy Sampath Bank through NDB. The people who were within were not too keen on doing that and as a matter of fact they were not interested in CTC Eagle as well. Their thinking was that it should be given out. As these two components were not there I sold my stake of NDB and came out.
There was much resentment in the market of you purchasing shares of NDB. How did you overcome these challenges?
I was briefed about the bank as I was leaving Ward Place but by the time I had reached Colpetty I had made the decision to buy the bank. That is because during the preceding telephone conversations I asked about 15 questions and I received the right answer for all 15, then I was able to decide that I was going to make the investment.
There was much resentment within the business circles. At the time I was going to take over NDB, banks that had approved to provide me the facility stopped their offer. At that time it was only Seylan Bank and Commercial Bank that supported me. This is how I was able to become a major shareholder.
You entered the CSE in 1996 with Rs 300,000 what can you tell us about this?
I was asked to invest 50 million rupees by Bartleet. That is the amount required to handle my portfolio. At that time I was able to give 50 million but I wasn’t comfortable doing so because what I wanted to do was to build the bank interest. That is why I initially put Rs 300,000 and for three years watched and learned how this system works. At that time I did not have an idea about how the stock market worked as this did not fit into any of my mathematical models. During that time I became well versed in how the stock market works and I purchased stocks from the entire stock market, about 100-200 at once and analysed whether the stocks could be sold or not and I was able to gain that knowledge. That is why even today I have no hesitation with working with the stock market and have been there for more than ten years.
However, I must stress that I do not trade but I only acquire companies and this has been so for the last six years.
At the time you bought over Royal Ceramics, the perception was that there were no prospects in the industry sector. Why did you purchase Royal Ceramics at that time, what was the thinking behind this move?
I had made the decision to take over Royal Ceramics in 1992, at that time the company was loss making. I went to see this factory in 1992, but as the person I was supposed to meet was not there I returned to Colombo from Eheliyagoda. Therefore I knew the situation of the company very well. In 2000 when I took over the company it was making 40 million rupees in profits. However the company had gone on strike and the factory was in disrepair and had essentially collapsed, therefore I decided to enter into the industry sector. When we purchased the company they were manufacturing only porcelain tiles. After that we purchased the ceramic factory in Horana - Interbatch Porcelain - which was owned by Carsons however as they were running at a loss it had been acquired by Bank of Ceylon, we in turn purchased the company from them. We converted the ceramic tile factory.We turned a failure into a success. Thereafter we built the bathware factory totally from scratch which now manufactures bathroom fittings. ROCELL now manufactures porcelain, ceramics and bathware.
If we move on to LB Finance. How was the company before you acquired it and what has it become today?
LB Finance is a good example. A company that was making three million rupees with deposits of about two billion rupees within seven years has been converted to a billion rupee company. The staff has expanded from 160 to about 1000. The deposit base has increased from two billion rupees to 20 billion rupees. Therefore every company when it was going through a difficult period I have taken them and developed them to what they are today. Currently in the finance sector, we control LB Finance, Valibel Finance and we are the major shareholders of Pan Asia Bank and Sampath Bank.
If you can explain how you have converted these loss making companies to profit making companies?
In every company we have employed professionals as the senior management of the company. We give them the proper guidance and direction and if they work according to that the company will be a success. The success of the company cannot be attributed to me alone. The C hairman and the Managing Director; the Top Management are the key to the success of the companies.
You control 20 listed companies and these same companies pay 5% of the total corporate income tax of Sri Lanka. What can you tell us about this?
If we can increase our contribution to the country that means from the corporates we earn the most as well. If we can increase the tax that we pay to about 10% of the total corporate income tax of Sri Lanka that would mean that our companies are the highest earning companies in the country. Our goal is to bring this up to 10%.
Then you entered into the hospitality industry with the Amaya Group and Ruhunu Hotels. What was the thinking behind this? What can you tell us about the success of this venture? What would you do differently?
One thing that I realised sometime ago was that in a country where a terrorist group was operating everything depended on the leader of that terrorist group. However I knew that once the leader of the group is destroyed then the entire group will collapse. Therefore I had a vision for when that day came to develop the hospitality industry. Sri Lanka has a revenue of about USD 300 million from tourism alone and that has to increase by five folds. At that time it was a good opportunity, Amaya Hotels were initially under the Connaissance Group. At that time the Group was in a very difficult situation as they could not repay their loans to the bank. We restructured the group and turned it around. We built a brand new hotel in the South - Fortress. Many asked me why I built such a hotel at that time. But my thinking was that the war would end before 2006. I did not think that it would go on for that long and I thought the conflict would end in 2006 itself. I made every investment into the tourism sector in the belief that the war would end soon.
Can you tell us about the story of Hayleys? How you acquired it and the timing? It is a closely held company but you are the only one who was able to come in?
We entered Hayleys during a year when the company was badly managed. There was no confidence in the people that the company would go forward. That is why even the small shareholders sold their shares. That is the reason we were able to purchase up to 30% of the shares. At the same time the Hayleys subsidiaries and ESOP owned 21% of the shares. Therefore we have 51% control of the company. I dont think anyone thought it would be possible to acquire 30% of the holding in a company such as Hayleys but that opportunity was created by the earlier management because they were not managing the company efficiently and effectively.
What can you tell us about the performance of the Group - looking at the industries (Haycarb, DPL gloves manufacturing, Hayleys Fibre, Fabric Knitting, Plantations - Kelani Valley and Talawakelle)?
If you take activated carbon, the best in the world in terms of quality is Y17, which is manufactured by a Japanese company. We have now matched that carbon and producing the same in Sri Lanka. That is the greatest achievement in activated carbon. Y17 is the number one activated carbon in terms of quality and we have matched that. We have to only start on sales and we are happy that we have been able to bring our product up to the number one level.
Hayleys has manufacturing plants overseas in Japan (fibre and green tea bottling manufacturing), Thailand (gloves and activated carbon manufacturing plants) and Indonesia (activated carbon manufacturing plant), England (fibre) and Italy (trading), not many people know about these. You essentially took over a sleeping company and turned into a success can you elaborate?
Hayleys was not showing interest in the companies abroad which were essentially operating as separate entities. Individually these companies were sleeping as well. Now we are putting these into the business models and seeing how they can be further developed. Therefore it will take about two to three years for Hayleys to completely fit into our models and rise to its potential.
If you look at the fibre company in Japan, 60% of the holding is owned by Hayleys and the remaining 40% by the Japanese partner. However, even they did not realise that Hayleys has the majority stake in the company. I gathered this from the way they spoke. For instance the son of the Japanese partner came to Sri Lanka, at that time there was USD three million in the account, I asked them to declare 60% dividend and bring the money to Sri Lanka. They questioned as to why this should be done because they were under the impression that the cash belonged to them. It was only after we explained to them that Hayleys has the 60% shareholding that we were able to declare dividends and bring the money back to Sri Lanka. There was no one to look into these holdings before we became the majority shareholder.
Then, the trading company in Italy as well, it was only after we took over Hayleys that they started talking about it. Even in that instance 60% is owned by Hayleys and the remaining 40% by the Italian partner. The foreign party sent us a letter asking for 11% so that they can have 51% and become the majority shareholder. The tone of the letter was that we had to give them the 11%. We replied and said that we are ready to take over even their 40% for the stipulated price. That is how we saved that company and kept it within Hayleys. This company has a turnover of a round 30 million euros (about five billion rupees) and a profit of around two to three million euros and employs 35 staff members. In Thailand we employ around 600 and in Indonesia approximately 200. In England we have a small fibre company, which has been subcontracted. Then we have separate offices in England and Australia for marketing.
After we came Hayleys made five acquisitions; Talawalakelle, we were able to get complete control, then Hunnas Falls, they had only 47% and we purchased 4% to have a total of 51% of the holding. Then we bought the tea company Macbrooke and the Aluminium manufacturing plant Alumex and Ceylon Continental.
We are in the process of refurbishing the former Ceylon Continental Hotel and Hunnas Falls. At the Ceylon Continental Hotel, the car park area will be utilised to construct two separate towers; a residence tower and a hotel tower. Even with Hunnas Falls we are hoping to increase the capacity by about 80 rooms.
What was the thinking behind the acquisition of Alumex?
I’m very interested in the manufacturing business and Aluminium is part of that. When we did a study in Sri Lanka we realised that there was no quality Aluminium but two companies were already manufacturing Aluminium. We looked at the possibility of coming in as a third player and produce quality Aluminium. However we realised that the market was too small as such we decided to acquire one of the already existing companies. We acquired one company, up to 36% the price they were asking for the balance shares was too high. Then we acquired Alumex.
Are you thinking of expanding Hayleys further?
Yes in Indonesia we are looking at expansion and also in Russia.
Vallibel One recently took over Delmege, what was the thinking behind this and what new plans have been made with regards to this company?
We took over Delmege mainly for its distribution network. It is the best arm to distribute some of the consumer durables manufactured in Sri Lanka. This is what we can develop. We bought the company for its asset so now that we have the control we can take it to great heights.
Delmege and Hayleys are conglomerates in Sri Lanka. We can say that until you took over these companies they were sleeping giants. What does this say about our private sector?
It is very simple. If one or two people who hold the highest positions in the company are not proactive and dynamic on the job then the entire company will sleep. That is the difference. A company doesn’t sleep because of its employees but because of those at the top. In most companies we saw that it was either the managing director or the chairman who was sleeping but we say that the entire company was sleeping. But once we went in we realized that the staff and the directors were all very active. The main thing is to identify who are being a hindrance to the growth of the company.
What about Sampath Bank?
Yes, we entered Sampath Bank and we became the major shareholder. Since then it is the Top Management who was able to bring up the bank to the number one position in the banking sector. When we takeover a company we always look at how to make that company the number one in Sri Lanka. That is our goal. If we are number one in Sri Lanka then we look at the companies in the world and see how we can come to that level.
Can you tell us about the establishment of Vallibel One, what was the thinking behind it?
We had the need for a holding company and I want to establish about four-five holding companies. Valibel One is just the beginning. I have selected the companies that are making more than a billion in profit and created the holding company - Valibel One. There are not many diversified conglomerates in Sri Lanka that is another reason why we wanted to form such holding companies. In another year or two once the other companies also start making more than a billion in profit I will group them together and establish another holding company - Valibel Two. Therefore according to this model there will be four or five holding companies. Acquisitions and investments will be done through these companies.
Valibel One was one of the most successful IPOs and it commenced trading on the Colombo Stock Exchange, what was the thinking behind this and how was the response?
When we went into the stock market and issued the shares at a price of Rs 25 each, we gave the private placement for Rs 25 and the public for Rs 25 as well. There are three types of investors and to all three we gave the same price as such the investors in Sri Lanka are very happy. Some have already received 20% return in about three weeks. I feel that the shareholders will get a 100% return within a year.
Do you have any political ambitions?
No I have no political ambitions but I wish to do the maximum I can as an official to develop the country under the leadership of His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
You are person who believes in auspicious times, how has this strengthened you?
I only believe in the Rahu Kalaya. I dont believe that much in Neketh but on any given day I will start a business during the good time of the day.
මේක ටිකක් දිග ආටිකල් එකක්.මම ටිකක් කොට කරලා දැම්මෙත්.ඒත් බිස්නස් කරන්න ඉන්න අයට වැදගත් වෙයි කියලා හිතනවා...
From - http://businesstoday.lk/
By Udeshi Amarasinghe
Can you tell us how you have become who you are today?
It was through hard work not necessarily physical work but mentally where I was able to analyses and develop successful business models. From the beginning I worked only according to a mathematical structure or model. Through that I know the quickest and best path to take and as such make decisions quickly. At that moment I am 100% sure that my decisions are correct. When I input the required data into the business model and if it fits then I know that the decision is correct. Therefore it is not difficult to move from one place to another. It doesn’t take me long to decide whether a business is good or bad and the decision is made within a short period of time. I will go as far as I can. From my childhood I have been very interested in electronics and electrical items. I entered the Katubedda University but later decided to leave and pursue my business interests. It is from that passion that I began my first business. From the money I earned from that I began a machine manufacturing business where we sold and rented as well. I started this business in 1987 and the factory was behind my ancestral home in Payagala, Kalutara. Till 1991 this is what I did. The business consisted of two models, one was manufacturing and selling, the other was manufacturing and renting, both brought in money.
Tito Electronics was your first step what can you tell us about this?
At the same time that I was manufacturing I had a shop where we repaired electronic circuit boards that was called Tito Electronics in Colpetty. It is from there that all the other business models were developed. Then I went on to car sales in 1991 and shipping. At that time, when you look at where you can invest money and get the best returns those were the best areas. In 1992-93 we ventured into gaming as well. We started casinos. The ownership was ours but the management was a different company. My working strategy is owning the business not operations, not running the business. I must stress this point that my interest lies only in owning the business not running it. I will rectify any problems in the management but once it is running smoothly I will undertake only the ownership. The professionals will run the business. When you take my business models only professionals can run the business. If there are any shortcomings in those who manage the business then we will step in and rectify it.
PABC was your first acquisition, what was the thinking behind this?
At the time I acquired Pan Asia Bank it was a loss making financial institution. Even though it was a bank it was loss making. But we were able to bring it up to a profit making company.
After the purchase of Pan Asia Bank, I met Nimal Perera. He is the person who does all my acquisitions. We make the decision and he takes the acquisition to completion.
When you look at Pan Asia Bank today, do you think it is a success?
I can say that I am really happy at the progress they have made from the day it was acquired. The steps they have taken are immense. They have built up a significant branch network, developed their capital and are making substantial profit. I am extremely pleased with their achievements.
Why did you acquire NDB?
I tried to acquire NDB Bank for two reasons; CTC Eagle was owned by the bank and then through NDB I wanted to acquire Sampath Bank. It is for these two reasons that I went into NDB. But when I got there I realised that I would not be able to buy Sampath Bank through NDB. The people who were within were not too keen on doing that and as a matter of fact they were not interested in CTC Eagle as well. Their thinking was that it should be given out. As these two components were not there I sold my stake of NDB and came out.
There was much resentment in the market of you purchasing shares of NDB. How did you overcome these challenges?
I was briefed about the bank as I was leaving Ward Place but by the time I had reached Colpetty I had made the decision to buy the bank. That is because during the preceding telephone conversations I asked about 15 questions and I received the right answer for all 15, then I was able to decide that I was going to make the investment.
There was much resentment within the business circles. At the time I was going to take over NDB, banks that had approved to provide me the facility stopped their offer. At that time it was only Seylan Bank and Commercial Bank that supported me. This is how I was able to become a major shareholder.
You entered the CSE in 1996 with Rs 300,000 what can you tell us about this?
I was asked to invest 50 million rupees by Bartleet. That is the amount required to handle my portfolio. At that time I was able to give 50 million but I wasn’t comfortable doing so because what I wanted to do was to build the bank interest. That is why I initially put Rs 300,000 and for three years watched and learned how this system works. At that time I did not have an idea about how the stock market worked as this did not fit into any of my mathematical models. During that time I became well versed in how the stock market works and I purchased stocks from the entire stock market, about 100-200 at once and analysed whether the stocks could be sold or not and I was able to gain that knowledge. That is why even today I have no hesitation with working with the stock market and have been there for more than ten years.
However, I must stress that I do not trade but I only acquire companies and this has been so for the last six years.
At the time you bought over Royal Ceramics, the perception was that there were no prospects in the industry sector. Why did you purchase Royal Ceramics at that time, what was the thinking behind this move?
I had made the decision to take over Royal Ceramics in 1992, at that time the company was loss making. I went to see this factory in 1992, but as the person I was supposed to meet was not there I returned to Colombo from Eheliyagoda. Therefore I knew the situation of the company very well. In 2000 when I took over the company it was making 40 million rupees in profits. However the company had gone on strike and the factory was in disrepair and had essentially collapsed, therefore I decided to enter into the industry sector. When we purchased the company they were manufacturing only porcelain tiles. After that we purchased the ceramic factory in Horana - Interbatch Porcelain - which was owned by Carsons however as they were running at a loss it had been acquired by Bank of Ceylon, we in turn purchased the company from them. We converted the ceramic tile factory.We turned a failure into a success. Thereafter we built the bathware factory totally from scratch which now manufactures bathroom fittings. ROCELL now manufactures porcelain, ceramics and bathware.
If we move on to LB Finance. How was the company before you acquired it and what has it become today?
LB Finance is a good example. A company that was making three million rupees with deposits of about two billion rupees within seven years has been converted to a billion rupee company. The staff has expanded from 160 to about 1000. The deposit base has increased from two billion rupees to 20 billion rupees. Therefore every company when it was going through a difficult period I have taken them and developed them to what they are today. Currently in the finance sector, we control LB Finance, Valibel Finance and we are the major shareholders of Pan Asia Bank and Sampath Bank.
If you can explain how you have converted these loss making companies to profit making companies?
In every company we have employed professionals as the senior management of the company. We give them the proper guidance and direction and if they work according to that the company will be a success. The success of the company cannot be attributed to me alone. The C hairman and the Managing Director; the Top Management are the key to the success of the companies.
You control 20 listed companies and these same companies pay 5% of the total corporate income tax of Sri Lanka. What can you tell us about this?
If we can increase our contribution to the country that means from the corporates we earn the most as well. If we can increase the tax that we pay to about 10% of the total corporate income tax of Sri Lanka that would mean that our companies are the highest earning companies in the country. Our goal is to bring this up to 10%.
Then you entered into the hospitality industry with the Amaya Group and Ruhunu Hotels. What was the thinking behind this? What can you tell us about the success of this venture? What would you do differently?
One thing that I realised sometime ago was that in a country where a terrorist group was operating everything depended on the leader of that terrorist group. However I knew that once the leader of the group is destroyed then the entire group will collapse. Therefore I had a vision for when that day came to develop the hospitality industry. Sri Lanka has a revenue of about USD 300 million from tourism alone and that has to increase by five folds. At that time it was a good opportunity, Amaya Hotels were initially under the Connaissance Group. At that time the Group was in a very difficult situation as they could not repay their loans to the bank. We restructured the group and turned it around. We built a brand new hotel in the South - Fortress. Many asked me why I built such a hotel at that time. But my thinking was that the war would end before 2006. I did not think that it would go on for that long and I thought the conflict would end in 2006 itself. I made every investment into the tourism sector in the belief that the war would end soon.
Can you tell us about the story of Hayleys? How you acquired it and the timing? It is a closely held company but you are the only one who was able to come in?
We entered Hayleys during a year when the company was badly managed. There was no confidence in the people that the company would go forward. That is why even the small shareholders sold their shares. That is the reason we were able to purchase up to 30% of the shares. At the same time the Hayleys subsidiaries and ESOP owned 21% of the shares. Therefore we have 51% control of the company. I dont think anyone thought it would be possible to acquire 30% of the holding in a company such as Hayleys but that opportunity was created by the earlier management because they were not managing the company efficiently and effectively.
What can you tell us about the performance of the Group - looking at the industries (Haycarb, DPL gloves manufacturing, Hayleys Fibre, Fabric Knitting, Plantations - Kelani Valley and Talawakelle)?
If you take activated carbon, the best in the world in terms of quality is Y17, which is manufactured by a Japanese company. We have now matched that carbon and producing the same in Sri Lanka. That is the greatest achievement in activated carbon. Y17 is the number one activated carbon in terms of quality and we have matched that. We have to only start on sales and we are happy that we have been able to bring our product up to the number one level.
Hayleys has manufacturing plants overseas in Japan (fibre and green tea bottling manufacturing), Thailand (gloves and activated carbon manufacturing plants) and Indonesia (activated carbon manufacturing plant), England (fibre) and Italy (trading), not many people know about these. You essentially took over a sleeping company and turned into a success can you elaborate?
Hayleys was not showing interest in the companies abroad which were essentially operating as separate entities. Individually these companies were sleeping as well. Now we are putting these into the business models and seeing how they can be further developed. Therefore it will take about two to three years for Hayleys to completely fit into our models and rise to its potential.
If you look at the fibre company in Japan, 60% of the holding is owned by Hayleys and the remaining 40% by the Japanese partner. However, even they did not realise that Hayleys has the majority stake in the company. I gathered this from the way they spoke. For instance the son of the Japanese partner came to Sri Lanka, at that time there was USD three million in the account, I asked them to declare 60% dividend and bring the money to Sri Lanka. They questioned as to why this should be done because they were under the impression that the cash belonged to them. It was only after we explained to them that Hayleys has the 60% shareholding that we were able to declare dividends and bring the money back to Sri Lanka. There was no one to look into these holdings before we became the majority shareholder.
Then, the trading company in Italy as well, it was only after we took over Hayleys that they started talking about it. Even in that instance 60% is owned by Hayleys and the remaining 40% by the Italian partner. The foreign party sent us a letter asking for 11% so that they can have 51% and become the majority shareholder. The tone of the letter was that we had to give them the 11%. We replied and said that we are ready to take over even their 40% for the stipulated price. That is how we saved that company and kept it within Hayleys. This company has a turnover of a round 30 million euros (about five billion rupees) and a profit of around two to three million euros and employs 35 staff members. In Thailand we employ around 600 and in Indonesia approximately 200. In England we have a small fibre company, which has been subcontracted. Then we have separate offices in England and Australia for marketing.
After we came Hayleys made five acquisitions; Talawalakelle, we were able to get complete control, then Hunnas Falls, they had only 47% and we purchased 4% to have a total of 51% of the holding. Then we bought the tea company Macbrooke and the Aluminium manufacturing plant Alumex and Ceylon Continental.
We are in the process of refurbishing the former Ceylon Continental Hotel and Hunnas Falls. At the Ceylon Continental Hotel, the car park area will be utilised to construct two separate towers; a residence tower and a hotel tower. Even with Hunnas Falls we are hoping to increase the capacity by about 80 rooms.
What was the thinking behind the acquisition of Alumex?
I’m very interested in the manufacturing business and Aluminium is part of that. When we did a study in Sri Lanka we realised that there was no quality Aluminium but two companies were already manufacturing Aluminium. We looked at the possibility of coming in as a third player and produce quality Aluminium. However we realised that the market was too small as such we decided to acquire one of the already existing companies. We acquired one company, up to 36% the price they were asking for the balance shares was too high. Then we acquired Alumex.
Are you thinking of expanding Hayleys further?
Yes in Indonesia we are looking at expansion and also in Russia.
Vallibel One recently took over Delmege, what was the thinking behind this and what new plans have been made with regards to this company?
We took over Delmege mainly for its distribution network. It is the best arm to distribute some of the consumer durables manufactured in Sri Lanka. This is what we can develop. We bought the company for its asset so now that we have the control we can take it to great heights.
Delmege and Hayleys are conglomerates in Sri Lanka. We can say that until you took over these companies they were sleeping giants. What does this say about our private sector?
It is very simple. If one or two people who hold the highest positions in the company are not proactive and dynamic on the job then the entire company will sleep. That is the difference. A company doesn’t sleep because of its employees but because of those at the top. In most companies we saw that it was either the managing director or the chairman who was sleeping but we say that the entire company was sleeping. But once we went in we realized that the staff and the directors were all very active. The main thing is to identify who are being a hindrance to the growth of the company.
What about Sampath Bank?
Yes, we entered Sampath Bank and we became the major shareholder. Since then it is the Top Management who was able to bring up the bank to the number one position in the banking sector. When we takeover a company we always look at how to make that company the number one in Sri Lanka. That is our goal. If we are number one in Sri Lanka then we look at the companies in the world and see how we can come to that level.
Can you tell us about the establishment of Vallibel One, what was the thinking behind it?
We had the need for a holding company and I want to establish about four-five holding companies. Valibel One is just the beginning. I have selected the companies that are making more than a billion in profit and created the holding company - Valibel One. There are not many diversified conglomerates in Sri Lanka that is another reason why we wanted to form such holding companies. In another year or two once the other companies also start making more than a billion in profit I will group them together and establish another holding company - Valibel Two. Therefore according to this model there will be four or five holding companies. Acquisitions and investments will be done through these companies.
Valibel One was one of the most successful IPOs and it commenced trading on the Colombo Stock Exchange, what was the thinking behind this and how was the response?
When we went into the stock market and issued the shares at a price of Rs 25 each, we gave the private placement for Rs 25 and the public for Rs 25 as well. There are three types of investors and to all three we gave the same price as such the investors in Sri Lanka are very happy. Some have already received 20% return in about three weeks. I feel that the shareholders will get a 100% return within a year.
Do you have any political ambitions?
No I have no political ambitions but I wish to do the maximum I can as an official to develop the country under the leadership of His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
You are person who believes in auspicious times, how has this strengthened you?
I only believe in the Rahu Kalaya. I dont believe that much in Neketh but on any given day I will start a business during the good time of the day.
ෂක්කිලම ව්යාපාරිකයා
