Hikkaduwa-based hospitality firm to go public; bets high on Japanese tourists

Bansei Royal Resorts Hikkaduwa (Private) Limited (Bansei), a 38-year old hotel located in the Southern coast is to list shares in its entirety on Diri Savi Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) by way of an introduction, before end of March.

To this end, the company has submitted an application to list 53.73 million ordinary voting shares for which the CSE has gaven approval in principle.

As of March 10, 2014, Delmege Group Managing Director and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General Channa De Silva held 51 percent stake in Bansei Royal Resorts, being the single largest shareholder followed by another 39 percent by Japan basedBansei Securities Company Limited.

The majority shares of the Bansei, formerly known as Coral Rock Hotel (Private) Limited was earlier held by investor Nimal Perera, immediate past Chairman of Bank of Ceylon Gamini Wickramasinghe and De Silva.

After Wickramasinghe’s divestment of stake to the Japanese entity, the company was re-named as Bansei Royal Resorts Hikkaduwa (Private) Limited with effect from February 28, 2014. However, Perera still holds 1.66 stake of the hotel.

Despite the ownership, the hotel management is carried out by Hayleys Group through Amaya Leisure PLC in a joint agreement entered in for 3-years from December 2011 to December 2014.

While listing of shares by way of an introduction will not bring additional capital, a source closed to the company said raising fresh capital is very much the objective in the second stage.

Bansei is the third company to be listed in the CSE this year after the Initial Public Offerings by Millennium Housing Developers Limited and Alumex Limited.

Meanwhile the company has made an application to the SEC seeking approval to list shares that were allotted within a 12-month period from the date of the initial listing application and also to waive the lock in period for 218 public shareholders.

The SEC has given approval for both requests, subjected to conditions where one such condition is that the company should ensure that the minimum public holding requirement both percentage and the number of shareholders applicable to the Diri Savi Board is for a period of 6 months from the date of listing.

Further the two main shareholders Bansei Securities Company Limited and De Silva have provided an undertaking to the SEC that they would not divest their shareholding to the public for a period of 12 months, subsequent to the date of listing.

During the year ended March 31, 2013 the company’s top line grew by 161 percent Year-on-Year to Rs. Rs.77.6 million while its bottom-line turned a positive Rs. 5.4 million with an earnings per share of Rs.7.43.

The 34-room resort located in prime beach land on the Hikkaduwa strip is betting their future growth on the Japanese tourists and continued positive growth trajectory in the Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.