SL seeks transaction advice from IFC to sell SLT, SriLankan Airlines and Lanka Hospitals

• To advertise seeking transaction advisors for SLIC, Litro, Hotel Developers and Canwill
• SRU says divestments will be carried out transparently and unsolicited proposals will not be entertained

Sri Lanka is negotiating with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to seek its service as transaction advisor for the sale of the government’s stakes in several state-owned enterprises (SOEs). 

The State-owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SRU) yesterday said the Finance Ministry is negotiating with the IFC to obtain its services to divest the state ownership in SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) and Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC. 

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has decided to advertise in local as well as international newspapers and via LinkedIn on March 30, calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from consultancy firms interested in providing sell-side transaction advisory services for the sale of the government’s ownership in Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Litro Gas Lanka Ltd and Litro Gas Terminals Ltd, Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd (The Hilton, Colombo) and Canwill Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd (Grand Hyatt, Colombo). The SRU said the interested firms would be required to respond to Request for Proposal (RFP) documents as well when responding to the EOI.  

Firms are free to express interest with respect to one or more of the SOEs that are identified for divestiture. Responses must be submitted on or before 4:00 p.m., on April 27, 2023.  The SRU said the Quality and Cost Based Selection method of the government’s Consultant Procurement Guideline would be used to select transaction advisors. 

 The transaction advisors are expected to assist the SRU with sell-side due diligence, valuation, data room creation, transaction strategy and marketing of the entities to be divested.  

“The divestitures will be carried out by the SRU in a transparent and credible manner, following an EOI/RFP process, which will be published in the local and international press. Unsolicited proposals will not be entertained,” the SRU said.