28 December 2016 10:42 am
Group Lease Holdings, a Singaporean subsidiary of Thai-listed Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL), has appointed two directors to the Colombo Stock Exchange listed Commercial Credit and Finance PLC after purchasing a 29.9 percent stake in the Sri Lankan entity.
GL Group Chairman and CEO Mitsuji Konoshita, and GL Director and CFO Regis Martin, a Frenchman, were appointed as directors of Commercial Credit and Finance last week, with approval from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Konoshita, who graduated from the Osaka University in Japan with a Masters and Bachelors in Law, has been the Chairman of the GL Group since 2007, and had taken on the role of the CEO in 2012 as well.
In addition to heading GL subsidiaries, he is also the Chairman of the Engine Holdings Asia Pte. Ltd, another subsidiary of GL’s parent Wedge Holdings Co. Ltd, which is based in Osaka. Martin has a Bachelors and Masters of Science in Applied Economics and an MA in International Business from the University of Paris IX Dauphine. He had been employed at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance prior to transitioning to the private sector, where he has since held many portfolios, including but not limited to being the L’Oreal Paris Sales Forecast Controller, Morison Kak & Associes Senior Auditor and Finance and Devenco Investment Portfolio Manager.
Since joining as the Business Performance Manager at GL Finance Plc, Martin has gone on to become a director at various GL Group companies.
The GL Group recently bought 29.99 percent of the shares of Commercial Credit and Finance for Rs.10.56 billion, and also purchased a controlling share of Commercial Credit and Finance’s associate company BG Microfinance Myanmar Co. Ltd.