NTT sells out in Lanka venture
Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) sold its 35.2 percent stake in state-owned Sri Lanka Telecom for 297 million US dollars, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said Tuesday.
The purchase by Malaysia's Global Telecommunications Holdings NV ended the largest single investment in Sri Lanka by a Japanese firm.
Global, which also owns Maxis Communications of Malaysia, bought the shares at 50.50 rupees (47 US cents) each making it the biggest single transaction ever conducted on the stock exchange, CSE officials said.
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) shares had traded at about 40 rupees before the sale was announced and rose 15.8 percent to 48.00 rupees in intraday trade Tuesday on a statement by Global Telecommunications it would be willing to buyout the remaining shareholders at 50.50 rupees.
Sri Lanka Telecom, was privatised in 1997, when the government sold a third of the company to NTT for 225 million dollars. The government retains 49.5 percent of SLT, with the balance held by the public and employees.
"That means NTT makes a capital gain of 75 million dollars after 10 years," Arjuna Dassanayake from DFCC Stockbrokers, the selling broker of the deal said.
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