Govt. assures transparent divestiture of stakes in 9 SOEs

Friday, 24 March 2023 04:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Government yesterday assured that the divestiture of State stakes in select enterprises will be done in a transparent and credible manner.

The divestiture program will be carried out by the State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SRU) under the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies (MoF) in a transparent and credible manner and investor selection will commence with an EOI/RFP process to be published in the local and international press.

The Government said the SRU will appoint reputed, qualified and experienced consultancy firms and/ or development financial institutions to provide transaction advisory services to assist with the divestitures and the process of selecting such transaction advisors will commence shortly.

The transaction advisors will, inter-alia, assist the SRU with sell-side due diligence, valuation, data room creation, transaction strategy and marketing of the entities to be divested.

The State Ministry of Finance said the Government has embarked on a process of implementing structural reforms to accelerate growth so that the country can emerge from the current economic crisis.

It said the SOE sector, which for many years has been a severe burden on the Sri Lankan economy, has been identified for reforms on a priority basis. These reforms are expected to contribute towards higher economic productivity by reducing market distortions, increasing organisational efficiency and improving the quality of service to the public.

The Government has set up the SRU under the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies (MoF) to implement the above process.

By its decision dated the 13 March 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved in principle the divestiture of the following enterprises; (a) SriLankan Airlines Ltd including Sri Lankan Catering Ltd

(b) Sri Lanka Telecom PLC; (c) Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd; (d) Canwill Holdings Ltd (Grand Hyatt Colombo); (e) Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd (Hilton Hotel Colombo); (f) Litro Gas Lanka Ltd including Litro Gas Terminals Ltd; and (g) Lanka Hospital Corporation PLC.