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Harry J continues restructuring fortunes

27 Jun 2012 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

Continuing his plans to make the Melstacorp the ultimate holding company, business tycoon Harry Jayawardena yesterday executed another share transfer to the tune of Rs.7 billion.

Accordingly, Distilleries Co. PLC sold approximately 664 million shares or 16 percent of Aitken Spence to Melstacorp Limited, the 100 percent owned subsidiary of Distilleries Co. at Rs.106.60 per share.

“As a part of the internal group restructuring process, DCSL has sold 66, 420, 425 shares of Aitken Spence PLC at Rs.106.60 per share, to its 100% subsidiary Melstacorp Limited, on the trading floor of the Colombo Stock Exchange,” a disclosure by Distilleries Co. said.

According to market sources, the brokerage, IIFL Sri Lanka handled the both sides of the transaction. As at March 31, 2012, Distilleries Co. held 113, 728, 925 shares or 28.02 percent of Aitken Spence PLC.

On the same date, Melstacorp Limited held 47,359,256 shares or 11.67 percent of Aitken Spence. Aitken Spence has 406 million shares in issue. On Monday, Distilleries transferred/sold its total holdings in Browns Beach Hotels PLC (BBH), Balangoda Plantations PLC (BALA) and Madulsima Plantations PLC (MADU) to Melstacorp in a deal worth little over a billion rupees.