Saturday Sep 28, 2024
Saturday Sep 28, 2024
Friday, 15 November 2013 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The brand Blue Ocean is synonymous with the phrase “The Smartest Investment to Secure Wealth” because the investments made with Blue Ocean Group create high returns for its investors.
Group Chairman S. Thumilan is one of the most successful businessmen in Sri Lanka. He heads many successful diverse enterprises and also holds prestigious memberships of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA-UK), Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA-UK) and Chartered Certified Public Accountant of Australia (CPA-Aus). While serving as the Chairman for the Blue Ocean Group, he also serves as a consultant for several well-known leading establishments in Sri Lanka and overseas.
In addition to his full time board and other responsibilities, he serves as a visiting lecturer for number of leading professional institutions in Sri Lanka and overseas - (i.e. the UK, Male, Malaysia). He is an extremely popular, effective and successful lecturer on number of subjects offered by three major professional accountancy bodies - (CA/ACCA/CIMA).
Diversified portfolio
Thumilan is instrumental in the group’s extensive diversification into areas of education, engineering and construction, real estate, corporate consultancy, trading, electrical and engineering. Now the group has already reached the pinnacle of the construction field under his leadership. Instead of constructing ultra-luxury high cost residential projects, the group produces a range of low cost, yet highly luxurious, affordable residential projects in grand locations.
Moreover, for a great strength in support, Major General W. Bhani Soysa was appointed as CEO for the construction division. Major General Soysa is one of a renowned gentleman who has served in Sri Lanka’s Army and been qualified in the field of civil construction. He has also served as a construction adviser and civil engineer in many Asian and African countries for over nine years under the United Nations Development Program.
The group is also comprised of high profile Chartered Architects, Engineers, Accountants, Interior Designers and other professionals in various fields. With their full commitment the residential projects that Blue Ocean Group of Companies builds are iconic creations of aesthetic designs, elegance and sophistication.
Investor friendly
The success of Blue Ocean Group of Companies in the construction field is phenomenal when considering the depreciation of the field in Asian countries. “Only those who are significantly rich were able to invest in real estate market now,” Executive Managing Director for South Asia of Cushman & Wakefield recently stated. He further said that many real estate investors were reluctant to invest in the market due to its unpredictable future.
However, investors in Asia, Europe and other western countries do not back away from investing despite such statements. Instead they are looking for more resilient and sustainable real estate markets. For them as well as for other investors, Sri Lanka has now become an ideal destination. In fact, Sri Lanka is the fastest developing economy in Asia after China. Sri Lanka's growth rate was 8% in 2012 and it is rapidly growing. Per Capita Income (PCI) is projected to grow over $ 4,000 by 2016.
Right investor environment
Tax and other benefits for investors in Sri Lanka include constitutional guarantees, 100% exemptions from exchange control taxes, tax holidays, tax concessionary rates, duty exemptions and above all the ability to repatriate 100% profits and capital in their investments.
According to a report issued by Jones Lang, during the period between 2007 and 2011, more than 70% of the condominiums sold in Sri Lanka were bought only for investment purposes. In the premium and luxury sectors, the percentage of foreign ownerships was even higher. The island is now hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013, which represents more than two billion people in the world. The CHOGM meetings will open great investment opportunities. This is the time for investors to own properties in Sri Lanka and invest in many fields like IT, tourism, education, healthcare, construction to name a few. The Blue Ocean Group with its already gained prestige reaches the limelight by helping to meet the increasing demand for apartments and commercial buildings during this historic period. In fact, owning luxury apartments of Blue Ocean Group is one of the most reliable ways to double the value of their investments, the Company said in its statement.
Strategic acquisitions
The group’s latest acquisition, Link Engineering Ltd. has further cemented the reputation of the Blue Ocean Group. Link Engineering is the architect of many a landmark infrastructure project in Sri Lanka. This award winning company specialises in buildings, highways and bridges, water supply projects, irrigations, land reclamations, electrical engineering, plumbing, carpentry and joinery, interior decorations and floor finishing works. Link Engineering has acquired highest national grades of C-1, F-1, and EM-1 for its products. Even though it has undergone some failures over the past years, after its acquisition by Blue Ocean Group, it rapidly regained its position in the field. By introducing best corporate finance practices, greater project managerial procedures and policies as well as by recruiting dynamic human talent via restructured human resources management, Link Engineering has progressed very much by now. Its implementation of a strategic steering committee to the project matrix structure has shown a tremendous improvement in terms of its products’ quality, in-time completion and cost effectiveness.
Asset growth
In the past few months the company’s assets grew recording more than Rs. 1 billion turnover in both public and private projects. The company is working on having private and public mixed project portfolio to smoothen and stabilise its cash flow and profitability. With this growth Link Engineering recreated its strong structure and approached high revenue projects bringing its brand to an enviable position by now.
A prestigious sub division of the Link Engineering, Contessa, has 25-year-long experienced in designing and manufacturing high quality pantry cupboards, bedrooms, display cabinets, doors and windows. Contessa has kept indelible brand in interior designing, aluminium works and refurbishment work along the way to its present top ranked position. Aluminum Fabrication is another renowned Link’s sub division that specializes in designing, fabricating and installing glazed sky lights, ceilings, curtain walls and cladding, interior partitions, toilet partitions and louvered toilet doors, frameless toughened glass and automatic doors and roller shutters. Another division of Link Engineering is the concrete batching section which specialises in supplying mixed instant concrete. Blue Ocean Residencies and Link Engineering, the two outstanding companies of Blue Ocean Group of Companies, now stand apart from other constructions companies in Sri Lanka due to their quality construction works and excellent ethics in business.
New projects
The group is to commence a range of new grand residential projects in several other prominent locations. Chairman S. Thumilan said: “Owners of Blue Ocean Apartments now experience higher appreciation in property values. The credit must go to the government for implementing favourable policies for the growth of the economy which increase the demand for properties.”
As he said, lower lending rates, low cost loans, inflow of long-stay tourists including students, medical patients, contractors and business initiators greatly gear up the demand for properties. “We create wealth for our customers by providing them with quality, affordable, yet luxurious properties. Amidst enhanced rental incomes as well as appreciation in property value, the government’s policies help long-stay foreigners to find affordable rental apartments,” Thumilan added. “As our customer base expands daily, locally and globally, we at Blue Ocean Group with our strong vision has become the most respected, ethically sound and socially responsible company. Our vision will prevail through our achievements, whilst we continue to focus on acquisitions and mergers as well as partnerships as parts of our overall strategies,” concluded Thumilan.
