United Motors divests stake in TVS Lanka for Rs.1bn

United Motors Lanka PLC (UML) yesterday announced that it sold its entire stake in TVS Lanka (Private) Limited to the TVS parent company in India for Rs. 1 billion.
In a filing to the Colombo Stock Exchange, UML said it sold 17.5 million shares in TVS Lanka, representing a 50 percent stake, to TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons (Private) Limited, which is the holding company for TVS.

TVS Lanka was a joint venture between UML, TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons and TVS Motors of India.

While TVS Lanka was founded in 1995, UML entered into the company in 2003 by purchasing 50 percent stake.

TVS Lanka sells TVS bikes, scooters and spare parts, having discontinued the sale of TVS three wheelers during the 2017 financial year, after-sales volumes declined. 

TVS scooters and bikes had an approximately 14 percent share in new sales in 2017, and two wheeler unit sales grew by 14 percent, compared to 2 percent in the industry.

TVS Lanka’s subsidiary TVS Automotives (Pvt) Limited was established in 2008 and sells MAK lubricants, TVS tyres and JK tyres. 

TVS Lanka had revenues of Rs.11.9 billion in 2017, which was a decline of 7.7 percent year-on-year, while net profits fell by Rs.94 million or 41 percent year-on-year.