CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards 2024 to raise awareness on public-private partnership potential

President’s Counsel, Nithya Partners Partner Chanaka de Silva

TWCorp Chairman/CEO Thilan Wijesinghe

Deloitte India Partner Kushal Kumar Singh

USAID Sri Lanka Energy Program Transaction Advisor and Competitive Procurement Specialist CFA Dhinali Peiris

The eagerly anticipated 11th annual CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 18 June 2024, at the Oak Room, Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. The CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards has been a flagship event in the CFA Society Sri Lanka calendar since its inception in 2012 and is among the most sought-after accolades recognising and rewarding excellence in the local capital markets.

This year’s event will be held under the theme of “The Power of Public-Private Partnerships”, focusing on the current status of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Sri Lanka and their future potential. It is also set to include a panel discussion in the form of a knowledge-sharing session on how PPPs can help Sri Lanka as the country emerges from an economic crisis, while raising awareness on how CFA Charterholders’ skills are crucial to executing PPPs successfully.

The discussion will focus on key topics including the rationale for PPPs and the context in which they are beneficial to an economy, and the importance of project identification and preparation in ensuring the success of a PPP. Furthermore, it will encompass where Sri Lanka stands at the moment in terms of regulations and legislature to facilitate PPP projects and the improvements that are needed, as well as the key success factors in executing PPPs in Sri Lanka, and how project structuring has been critical in attracting the private sector.

Sri Lanka’s initial PPP framework was formulated during the early 1990s, however, PPPs were not fully utilised to fund the projects as expected.

To support the development of robust and sustainable PPPs, and meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements of improved governance and transparency, the national budget presented to the Parliament in August 2022 proposed the re-establishment of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP) to identify and facilitate PPP investments, alongside the establishment of the State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SERU) to facilitate the restructuring of Government-owned business entities.

The knowledge-sharing session at this year’s CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards is set to feature a panel of leading industry figures – namely, President’s Counsel and Nithya Partners Partner Chanaka de Silva, Deloitte India Partner Kushal Kumar Singh and TWCorp [TWC] Chairman/CEO Thilan Wijesinghe with USAID Sri Lanka Energy Program Transaction Advisor and Competitive Procurement Specialist CFA Dhinali Peiris acting as the moderator.

Called to the Bar in 1986, Chanaka is considered one of the foremost legal experts in the field of project finance transactions and negotiations in Sri Lanka, and his expertise further extends to the field of litigation and alternate dispute resolution. He is a Founder Partner of Nithya Partners and heads the project finance and dispute resolution practices of the Firm.

Kushal counts over 23 years of consulting experience and is at the forefront of innovations in infrastructure sector development and financing, including development and testing of new PPP models. Considered a specialist in financial analysis and structuring of PPP projects across sectors, his clients include key public sector agencies and multilateral donor agencies.

Meanwhile, Thilan is said to have pioneered PPP transactions in Sri Lanka when he set up the Bureau of Infrastructure Investments under the Board of Investment (BOI) in 1996. The holder of three bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering, economics and business administration from Cornell University and State University of New York, USA, he has headed two of Sri Lanka’s largest public listed real estate companies and is a co-founder of several pioneering businesses. Dhinali is a CFA Charterholder with over 17 years of experience in capital markets and investment advisory. She holds a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Ohio University and first-class honors with a Bachelor of Science specialised in applied mathematics from the University of Colombo. Additionally, she is a CIMA passed finalist.