CDS signs up with Lanka IOC to act as registrar

From left: CSE Senior Legal Officer Madavi Leuke, CDS Senior Assistant Manager – CRM Hemal Weerasinghe, LIOC Company Secretary Amali Liyanapatabendi, Senior Vice President (Finance) Aseem Bhargava, MD Manoj Gupta, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CDS Head Nalin Fonseka, CSE Senior Vice President – Finance and Administration Kusal Nissanka, CDS Deputy Head Nadeera Athukorale, and Senior Assistant Manager – Corporate Solutions Vindhya Colombage

The Central Depository Systems (CDS), a fully owned subsidiary of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), recently signed a service agreement with Lanka IOC PLC as the registrar for Lanka IOC PLC, with effect from 1 January.

Lanka IOC PLC, with a corporate history spanning 20 years, is the only private sector auto fuel retailer in Sri Lanka. Over the years, the company has made a significant impact on the socio-economic landscape by enabling mobility, economic activity, and development. With an island-wide footprint of 213 retail outlets, the company services 12% of the country’s retail fuel demand.

Reasoning on appointing CDS, as the registrar for Lanka IOC PLC, its Managing Director Manoj Gupta said, “We engaged CDS to conduct our virtual annual general meetings during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic where all listed companies were not in a position to convene any physical meeting as it was most essential to maintain social distance. We found the services rendered to us by CDS were highly satisfactory. Thus, we are happy to appoint CDS as the registrar of the company.” 

“CDS has provided the service of handling the dividend payments to shareholders consecutively for the last three years and carried out the functions in a very good manner, coordinating well with the bankers and shareholders,” added Lanka IOC PLC Company Secretary Amali Liyanapatabendi. Further, commenting on the service, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike said, “The CDS has had a progressive journey over the last 31 years and has now grown to offer an augmented product range to listed companies. Now CDS offers an array of services to corporates and shareholders of listed companies through their decentralised digital depository operations. We are proud to see that CDS is continuously working on innovations to further improve their services and is evolving quite rapidly into a paperless environment.”

Commenting on the agreement, CDS Head Nalin Fonseka said, with the admission of LIOC, CDS portfolio would further expand and will serve 16 listed issuers, and LIOC being a listed company in the power and energy sector, shareholders of the LIOC will go through different experience and enjoy the benefits of value-added services offered by the CDS.