Sri Lanka’s Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera had told reporters on last Friday that government is expecting to sell the owning company of Colombo Hilton Hotel and the former Ceylinco Group owned now Government owned building where a Hyatt hotel was expected to emerge.

“We’re hoping, especially the Hilton and the Hyatt, will be privatized within the next month, Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera had told reporters adding that the process of privatization had faced delays.

“The divesture of non-strategic state-owned assets has taken longer than expected, but this process is being fast tracked, and we expect to see results soon,” Samaraweera told reporters. He has also pointed out that it will raise finances for the Treasury, and more importantly will create space for private enterprise to drive the hotel and tourism sectors.

Accordingly , the government had said that it will sell 51% of the shares Hotel Developers the firm that owns the Colombo Hilton on an ‘all or nothing’ basis through the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and that the remaining shares will be offered to the public through the CSE after allocating some shares to employees. The shares of Canwill Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, which owns the Hyatt Colombo , would be sold in a similar manner, according to the government.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis