Divasa Equity’s George Steuart Finance controlling stake changes

April, 24, 2014

Divasa Equity’s 51 percent controlling stake of George Steuart Finance changed hands as a strategic crossing this morning, said George Steuart Group chairman Dilith Jayaweera.

Accordingly, Divasa Equity’s 11.4 million shares of George Steuart Finance at Rs. 28.80 each crossed to George Steuart & Company this morning.

The total value of the crossing is Rs. 329 million.

George Steuart Finance PLC (GS Finance) is a Finance Company registered with the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011. The company has been in the business of offering Financial intermediary services having first commenced operations in 2005 as ‘Asia Commerce Limited’, as an approved Leasing Company under the Finance Leasing Act.

In 2010, after further infusion of capital and reconstitution of the Board with reputed business personalities of stature in diverse disciplines the company set up the ground work to obtain the Finance License, which it received in May 2011 and immediately thereafter the company was rebranded as Divasa Finance Limited with a new marketing pitch and strategies for faster pace of growth.

Signifying another strategic development, the company has now joined forces with the George Steuart Group, one of the oldest and reputed mercantile establishments. The company is now at an advantage as they can enjoy the synergies available to the group which has diversified interests in businesses such as Health, Manufacturing, Exports, Leisure, Engineering, Construction, Recruitment, Education and now Finance. Accordingly the company has now been rebranded as GS Finance.

GS Finance was established by a group of young professionals who strongly believed that the way forward for Sri Lanka was to build and strengthen the entrepreneurial sector. It is with this belief and spirit that a company willing to support entrepreneurs with an array of financial solutions was conceptualized and strategically implemented.

The Board Directors, whose diverse backgrounds include banking, finance, legal, insurance, communication, fund management and leisure have together with the dynamic management team, harnessed their strengths in different disciplines to ensure profitable solutions for customers and consistent growth for the company.

GS Finance is committed to innovating products that enable it to convert aspirations to realities and is committed to delivering superior service that surpasses all industry Benchmarks, Integrity, Transparency and Accountability are ingrained into the company which thrives on good governance, operational excellence, financial discipline and smooth processes. The collective effort of these best-in-class systems is reflected in the company's success at ‘Making you Shine’.