Carson group’s real estate subsidiary to go private

3 November 2015 03:04 am

Equity One PLC, a real estate subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Carson Cumberbatch PLC, announced that it intends to delist from the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

The delisting will be subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. 

Carson Cumberbatch PLC, which is the major shareholder with 96.28 percent of the shares, will be purchasing the remainder of the shares priced at Rs.77.50 per share. 

The stocks closed Friday at Rs.48.70 per share. The trading of the share was suspended yesterday pending announcement. 

The delisting must have been prompted by the regulatory minimum free float requirements that come into effect from January 2016.

A main board company is required to maintain a 20 percent free float all the time while for secondary board companies the requirement stands at 10 percent. 
In  the Carson Cumberbatch PLC’s latest annual report, Chairman Harry Selvanathan said that the group’s Southeast Asian plantation companies Indo Malay PLC, Shalimar (Malay) PLC, Good Hope PLC and Selinsing PLC will be delisted as well.

The Carson group in September divested a fraction of its shares in Pegasus Hotels of Ceylon PLC to remain listed.
Equity One owns 88.81 percent in Equity Two PLC.