Finlays plantation subsidiary transferred to secondary board

22 September 2015 03:25 am

Hapugastenne Plantations PLC, a subsidiary of the Finlays group, has been allowed to transfer its shares from the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) to the secondary Diri Savi Board.

The transfer was carried out at the request of the company and was with effect from yesterday. 

The transfer of shares appeared to have been carried out to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) minimum public float rules. 
According to the rules, which are set to be enforced in December 2016, a company on the Main Board should have a minimum public shareholding of 20 percent, while the entities on the Diri Savi Board should have a float of 10 percent. As at June 30, 2015, the company’s public float remained just above 8 percent.

The first three shareholders connected to the Finlays group— James Finaly Plantation Holdings (Lanka) Limited, James Finlay Limited and Jacey Trust Services (Private) Limited— collectively held 91.83 percent of the issued shares of the company. 

The other two companies of the Finlays group— Finlays Colombo and Udapussellawa Plantation PLC— will also have either to demote themselves to the secondary board or opt to go private as their public floats also remain below the minimum levels stipulated by the capital market regulator. 

Earlier this month, the shares of Pegasus Hotels (Ceylon) PLC, a unit of the Carson group, were transferred to the secondary board due to same reasons.