Footwear exporter Palla & Co. joins ERI'S Ceylon Leather

Ceylon Leather Products PLC (CLPL), a subsidiary of Environmental Resources Investment PLC (ERI), has acquired a 60% stake in footwear exporter - M/s Palla & Company (Pvt) Ltd at Rs. 418 million including preference shares.

Palla & Co, based at the EPZ, Katunayake, produces quality footwear to the export market since its inception in 2004. The board of director of the company will now include Dr. K. Heengama, S. Senaratne, S. Newsome and Marc Fanning.

Commenting on the acquisition, Sitendra Senaratne, Managing Director/ceo of CLP PLC, said, "We are happy to be the major shareholder of Palla and we are looking forward to grow with Palla's extensive knowledge of export markets and come out with new products using their new technology. It is noteworthy that at present 100% of the production of Palla are exported of which 40% goes to Italy. The Palla team consists of Italian, Brazilian, Romanian experts who have extensive experience in shoe designing and production."

Felipe Sechin - General Manager of Palla & Co. said they were excited about the synergies of Palla and Ceylon Leather. "We also look forward to introducing Palla's ladies footwear into the local market which we plan to launch at Ceylon Leather's new flagship store at the newly refurbished, 505, Union Place, Colombo Pharmacy Company location, scheduled for opening in March," he further added.