Asanga’s Rs. 960 m equity raiser for Anilana first IPO in more than a year

Popular fund manager turned high net-worth investor and entrepreneur Asanga Seneviratne is braving fresh challenges as his Rs. 980 million equity raising exercise for boutique style Anilana Hotels and Properties Ltd., (AHPL) will be the first Initial Public Offering (IPO) in more than a year.

The company is coming to the market with an IPO of 40 million ordinary voting shares at Rs. 12 each with an option to issue a further equal amount in the event of an oversubscription.

The CSE has approved Anilana’s application for the listing on the Diri Savi Board.

The IPO will be up for subscription from 3 June whilst its official opening is 12 June.

The last IPO the Colombo Bourse saw was the Rs. 350 million equity raising by Mackwoods Energy in March last year. Due to the crisis in the market due to a combination of reasons involving capital market regulatory authority, investors and brokers, their robust flow of IPOs came to an end early last year. Of the 17 new listings in 2012 only six emanated from IPOs and the rest via introductions.

In 2011 there were 13 IPOs raising a record Rs. 19.2 billion.

AHPL at presents operates a 60-room boutique hotel in Pasikudah and has plans to expand the portfolio in the East as well as in the cultural triangle in addition to the South.