Dr. Arittha Wikramanayake joins Overseas Realty Board

Dr. Arittha Wikramanayake  

Overseas Realty Ceylon PLC yesterday announced the appointment of Dr. Arittha Wikramanayake Attorney-at-Law, LL.M (Brussels), LL.M(Georgia), M.A.L.D (Fletcher) as an Independent Director to its Board of Directors.

Dr. Wikramanayake is the Precedent Partner of Heritage Partners. He is a veteran Corporate and M&A lawyer and heads the Firm’s corporate and acquisitions practice. 

During his tenure as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General, he played a pivotal role in the development and formulation of fundamental laws, regulations, and policies - including the formulation of the Takeovers and Mergres Code. Thereafter, he served as the Precedent Partner of Nithya Partners (Attorneys-at-Law) for nearly 25 years, and was the driving force in consolidating its position as one of the dominant corporate law firms in Sri Lanka. 

As a leading capital market expert in the country, Dr. Wikramanayake has served in various key regulatory and policy formulating bodies including the Sri Lanka Accounting and Monitoring Standards Board, the Public Enterprises Reform Commission and Committees for the formulation of Codes of Corporate Governance. He also served as Chairman, Company Law Advisory Commission,  Member of the Advisory Commission on Intellectual Property Law and as Member of the National Trade Negotiation Committee appointed by the Cabinet of Sri Lanka to negotiate Free Trade Agreements with Singapore, India, China and Thailand. He is at present a member of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka. In addition, he has been consistently ranked as a leading individual in the fields of Corporate and M&A by Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

Dr. Wikramanayake had his professional education at the Sri Lanka Law College and was admitted to the Bar in 1981. Thereafter he served as a State Counsel at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka until he assumed his position as Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission. During this period, he obtained LL.M degrees from the Vrije Universiteit (Brussels, Belgium), the University of Georgia (Athens, USA) as well as Master’s in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (USA). Furthermore, in 2013 he was awarded a Doctorate from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC is a BOI approved flagship company incorporated in 1980 to undertake the principal activities of investment, development, and management of properties. Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC is the owner, developer, and manager of the iconic World Trade Center, Colombo, and Havelock City mixed-use development.

The Board of Directors of Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC comprise Chairman Ajit Jayaratne, Dr. Mildred Tao Ong, Yap Boh Pin, Rohini Lettitia Nanayakkara, Ralph De Lanerolle, En Ping Ong, Tissa Kumara Bandaranayake, Dr. Ranee Jayamaha, Ben Nien Tao, Brian Tao, and Pravir Samarasinghe.