Sri Lanka: It’s not about the cricket

Monday, 13 June 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The London Stock Exchange’s decision last week to host a “Sri Lanka Day” had a great deal more behind it than a desire to showcase the best of Sri Lanka industry to the London investment community. London is clearly hoping that the business giants of Sri Lanka will attract London based equity investment, and that dual listings will follow. Also, with the world’s major stock exchanges forming alliances and making takeover bids for each other – sometimes friendly, sometimes aggressive – there was an underlying awareness of the current plan by the Sri Lanka Securities & Exchange Commission to demutualise the Exchange in order to permit outside capital participation and to create the possibility of alliances, and possibly equity swaps with other exchanges.