Kotelawala and Ceylinco Board out of 'The Finance'

Business leader Preethi Jayawardena appointed Chairman, Ajith Devasurendra, Dr. Senthilverl among new Directors

The longstanding Chairman Lalith Kotelawala and several Directors representing Ceylinco Group interests in The Finance Company (TFC) Board have been moved out and replaced by a fresh set with business leader Preethi Jayawardena appointed as the new ChairmanJayawardena is a top chartered accountant and currently Managing Director/CEO of Chemanex Plc and Non Executive Director at CIC Holdings Plc. He is also a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank.

Apart from him, the other Independent Non Executive Directors appointed were Browns Group Deputy Chairman and top professional cum investor Ajit Devasurendra, businessman and former Chairman of Ferntea and currently Managing Director of East Tech Consultants Nirmala Anura Fernando and veteran banker R. Nadarajah. High networth investor and shareholder Dr. T. Senthilverl is the other new appointee as Non-Executive Director.

Those who have ceased their Board positions are Kotelawala, Mrs.P.K. Karunanayake, Shanka Wijesinghe, Ajit Gunawardena, K.A.S. Jayatissa, T.N.M. Peiris, Y.B. Ratnayake and Mala Sabaratnam.

Ceylinco Investments is the biggest shareholder of TFC with a stake of 37.13% whilst Kotelawala also holds a stake of 3% under his personal name. Some of the directors who have been asked to resign also were holding smaller number of shares as at 31 December, 2010.

TFC’s managing agents is the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Bank of Ceylon.

The Company following the debacle of Golden Key and other economic downturns in 2008 and 2009 suffered considerably and continues to struggle.

The TFC’s Balance Sheet shows the difficulty. Assets as at 31 December, 2010 was Rs. 23.7 billion, down from Rs. 27.4 billion as at 31 March, 2010 and Rs. 24.9 billion as at 30 September, 2010.

Shareholders’ Funds was a negative Rs. 4.5 billion, higher as against Rs. 2.9 billion as at 31March, 2010.

Director and CEO K.J. Yatawara and Executive Directors V.W. Dissanayake, T.B. Ekanayake and N.C. Rupasinghe will continue to be on the Board of TFC.