Duminda resigns from Touchwood board
Ruling party Member of Parliament (MP) Duminda Silva, who was appointed to the director board of agro-forestry investment firm Touchwood Investment PLC, has reportedly tendered his resignation, Mirror Business learns.
Officials at Touchwood acknowledged that they had received certain official documents pertaining to the resignation of MP Duminda Silva from Touchwood Investment.
“We have received some official documents pertaining to his resignation and we have forwarded them to Company Secretaries for dissemination. The same will be taken up at today’s (October 1) board meeting,” an official said. Meanwhile, according to sources, a copy of MP Silva’s resignation letter has also been sent to the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Attempts to contact MP Silva to verify the fact proved fruitless.
MP Silva was appointed to the Touchwood board a week ago as an Independent Non-Executive Director, followed by a spate of appointments and resignations in the firm’s director board.
The appointment of MP Silva to Touchwood board had a positive impact on the firm’s shares on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The share prices, as at last Friday, had risen over 150 percent since Silva’s appointment.
Even most of the shareholders and investors of Touchwood, who were present at the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Thursday, were extremely upbeat about the news of Silva’s appointment.
Meanwhile, the trading halt imposed on the shares of Touchwood since last Friday for non-submission of disclosures to the CSE, was lifted yesterday and shares began trading from 10:30 in the morning.
The disclosure disseminated in the early trading hours summarized the comments made by its newly appointed Chairman, L.W. Kiwlegedara.
The disclosure said a new group of investors have joined to support Touchwood and these investors will be infusing Rs.200 million in the short term to address the current liquidity issues faced by the company.
It also said these investors are working on securing funds for an amount of US $ 21 million to develop projects, which includes planting sandalwood.
The disclosure further noted that the company will be rolling out a detailed strategic plan for the long term and also revealed its intentions to hire “very capable ex-management personnel”, who have extended their help. (DK)