Weligama Bay Marriot’s Singaporean Investor unable to buy 100% stake due to EPF’s delay on 11.11% stake

August, 17, 2018

Sri Lanka East West Properties PLC (EAST) in a disclosure to Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said that further to their previous announcements with regard to a new investor, the Directors of East West Properties PLC wish to inform that HPL and their associates have indicated that they are willing to buy only 100% ownership of Weligama Properties Ltd.

The disclosure also noted that the delay in coming to a decision is the inability of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) which owns 11.11% of the shares of the company, being unable to come up with a valuation of their shares, despite all accounts and other details being available to EPF through their representative who is in the Board of Directors of Weligama Hotel Properties Ltd.

“We will inform you of the progress of the transactions once we receive a response from the EPF” the company said in the disclosure.

In early March East West Properties PLC (EAST) informed it has signed a letter of intent to sell the entire stake it owns in its subsidiary, Weligama Hotel Properties Ltd, the property owners of recently opened Weligama Bay Marriot Resort & Spa, to Singapore’s HPL Hotels & Resorts Pte. Ltd. The stock market disclosure filed by the company however,did not give any indication of the possible sale price.

Businessman Nahil Wijesuriya and his children own about 85% of East West Properties. HPL Hotels & Resorts has 12 properties in Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean, with a total of 2,886 rooms, including resorts like Gili Lankanfushi – Maldives and The Boathouse – Phuket.

 

- Reporting by Devendra Francis

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