The State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SOERU) announced that only one bidder has submitted an offer for the divestiture of shares held by the government in Hotel Developers (Lanka) Ltd (HDL), the owning company of The Colombo Hilton. 

In a statement, the SOERU said that Melwa Hotels & Resorts (Pvt.) was the only bidder that submitted an offer. 
This offer will be evaluated by the Special Project Committee (SPC) and Special Cabinet-Appointed Negotiating Committee (SpCANC), against the terms and conditions set out in the Request for Proposal (RfP) and in accordance with the special guidelines on divestiture of state-owned enterprises, as approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. 

Melwa Hotels & Resorts was one of the two entities that were pre-qualified to put forward an offer. Following the call for Expressions of Interest by the Finance Ministry from interested parties in October 2023, nine responses were received.
Subsequent to the SPC and SpCANC evaluation, four bidders were pre-qualified for the RfP stage. RfPs were called for from the pre-qualified bidders on May 2, 2024. During the buy-side due diligence, two of the pre-qualified bidders withdrew from the divestiture process. 

The deadline for the submission of proposals was July 10 and only Melwa Hotels & Resorts submitted an offer. 
The SOERU said that during the evaluation process, the SpCANC has the mandate to further discuss this offer with the proposer. Thereafter, the recommendation of the SpCANC would be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for its decision. 
Colliers International Consultancy & Valuation (Singapore) Pte Ltd is the transaction advisor acting alongside the platinum advisors for this divestiture.