Nilmini Kumari Fernando, new Chairperson of Neil Marine and Penthouse Group
Neil Marine and the Penthouse Group, Sri Lanka’s leading manufacturer and service provider for fibreglass boats and other marine services, and one of Sri Lanka’s diversified conglomerates, has announced that Ms. Nilmini Kumari Fernando has taken control, management and ownership of the company.
Ms. Fernando succeeds her father, the late Neil Fer nando, Founder Chairman and Owner of Neil Marine and the Penthouse Group of companies.
Ms. Fernando holds a B S c. in Business Administration from the Unive r s i t y o f San Francisco, US, along with an LLB (QLD) Hons from the University of London, UK and an LLM Hons in International Business and Commercial Law from the University of West London, UK.
A media release by the company said she has
gained many years of business and industry experience, under the guidance and mentorship of the late Mr. Neil Fernando, making her suitably qualified and experienced to fulfil and discharge the responsibilities and duties of her new role as Chairperson of Neil Marine and the Penthouse Group.
Commenting on her new position, Ms. Fernando said, “Under the mentorship of my late father, I have gained a holistic understanding of our business operation and established rewarding relationships with our valuable customers in Sri Lanka and abroad. Through my academic pursuits, I have gained a wealth of experience and seen and understood the world at large, particularly in the sphere of international business and the laws and treaties governing it. Therefore, relying on the experience I have gained, and the guidance provided to me by my late father, I intend to guide the business into a new era, where we can leverage our strengths and our global relationships to grow stronger, and work with our valued customers, to win together.”
Established in 1969, as a pioneer in the fiberglass boat manufacturing industry in Asia for over 52 years, Neil Marine is one of South Asia's largest Fiberglass Boat Builders. To date, the company has built and supplied over 40,000 vessels and exported more than 2000 vessels to markets in the UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and West Asia.
Neil Marine’s portfolio of vessels include fishing boats, commercial and work boats, passenger ferries, patrol and surveillance crafts, luxury motor yachts and cruisers and luxury motor sailors and catamarans, with lengths ranging from 6m to 35m. The company is approved by the Lloyds Register of Shipping, Det Norske Ve r i t a s, American Bureau of Shipping and the Indian Register of Shipping, and is accredited by the IACS ( international association of classification societies).
The group is also involved in the businesses of polyurethane foam products, sewing machines, apparel industry support services and others.