Govt. to set up holding company for Grand Hyatt, Hilton and GOH

The government plans to bring hotels and tourism related assets held by various State-owned agencies and institutions under one holding company to stop the practice of pumping in taxpayer monies to such assets.

Accordingly, Cabinet approval has been granted to bring together Canvil Group, Hotel Developers Ltd. and Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH) under one institution owned by the Treasury, Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC).

Canvil Group, of which the majority shares are owned by SLIC, is the owner of Grand Hyatt, which is under construction. Hotel Developers is the owner of Hilton Colombo and Grand Oriental Hotel is owned by State-owned Bank of Ceylon. The Cabinet Office said an asset rich holding company would find it easier to secure funding for the companies under it for their expansion activities as the use of State income or borrowings to support such activities is not advisable.

The Cabinet memorandum in this regard has been presented by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Finance, Economy and Policy Development Minister.