Fairfield Holdings acquires controlling interest of Alethea Group

Seated from left: Managing Director/Coordinating Principal Anitra Perera, Chairman Prof. (Eng) G.L. Dharmasri Wickramasinghe and Executive Director Kumari Hapugalle Perera. Standing from left: Pradeepa Kondagama, Prashanthalal De Alwis PC, Brig. Mahendra Wijeratne, A.R. Abdul Azeez and Dr. Sashien Perera

• Alethea Group looks to expand scope and activities
• First investment in Sri Lanka by Fairfield Holdings

One of the country’s oldest private educational institutions, Alethea Group divested controlling interest of its equity to Fairfield Holdings at end May 2018.  

The transaction was arranged and supervised by M Power Capital which was responsible for the overall transaction as well as sell-side advisory for Alethea, while PWC was the Adviser on the buy-side for Fairfield Holdings. 

The acquisition, the first investment for Fairfield Holdings in Sri Lanka, was conceptualised and initiated to enable Alethea Group to expand its scope and activities, nurturing an even bigger expanse in the burgeoning educational sector in Sri Lanka.  

The coming together of one of the oldest private schools in Sri Lanka which was established in 1927 and investment company Fairfield Holdings, will herald a new chapter for the educational group in enhancing its presence in the country’s education milieu.

Currently certified by both Cambridge International and Edexcel London for its accredited examinations, Alethea is one of the few schools which offers an integrated system of study, wherein international and Sri Lankan students pursue the educational stream of their choice side by side.

Alethea also offers the national curriculum in the English medium as a Government-recognised private school allowing for greater opportunities for Sri Lankan students. 

Fairfield Holdings’ proposal envisioned both backward and forward integration augmented with state of the art technologically driven teaching aids and progressive methods which assured Alethea of the entity’s commitment to forge a common vision of empowered education founded on equality and consistently driven knowledge gathering. The Hapugalle/Perera family with its 90-year association with Alethea, will remain as shareholders and continue in an executive capacity, guiding the school in all educational and extracurricular matters.  Anitra Perera undertakes a new role as Coordinating Principal/Managing Director, while Kumari Hapugalle Perera will be Executive Director overlooking all school activities. Dr. Sashien Perera remains as a Shareholder/Director in a non-executive capacity.

The new Board of Directors comprises Chairman Prof. (Eng) G L Dharmasri Wickramasinghe, Managing Director Anitra Perera, Executive Director Kumari Hapugalle Perera, Prashanthalal De Alwis PC, Brig. Mahendra Wijeratne, A.R. Abdul Azeez, Pradeepa Kondagama and Dr. Sashien Perera.