EML Consultants Limited commenced trading on the Empower Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) on Monday. The company listed 90,900,000 Ordinary Voting Shares and has been classified under the Industry Group “2020 - Commercial and Professional Services”.
CEO of CSE, Rajeeva Bandaranaike congratulated and welcomed the company to the Empower Board. “2021 has been a significant year for the primary market of CSE, in terms of the capital that has been raised, as the exchange has facilitated over 30 new listings amounting to nearly Rs. 100 Bn, surpassing the Rs. 66 bn of the capital that was raised last year.”
Managing Director and Executive Director of EML Consultants Limited, Avanthi Jayatilake said, “We chose the path to an introductory listing as opposed to an IPO, because we are more interested in earning the status of a listed company, which will enhance our corporate image and reputation, and that will improve our chances of securing projects internationally, with international donors. And certainly, at a later stage, we may look for further issuances of shares to raise capital when we are ready to move to international competition.
“We certainly will be moving into the international business area, in the region first and then we can really look into the Pacific and in South East Asia.
We will compete in all types of infrastructure projects, where we can collaborate with the investors and the development partners,” he said.
Managing Director, Atarah Capital Partners (Pvt) Ltd, Managers to the Introduction and Sponsor of the listing, Rohan Senewiratne said, “There are few unique attributes on this listing. First, there are no companies listed on the CSE, who are operating in the consultancy space. Therefore, congratulations to EML Consultants Limited for setting the pace and I’m hopeful that other companies will follow suite. Second, EML
Consultants Limited is an SME sector company. One would agree that an SME, in its growth stage of business, would want to have an IPO and raise capital. However, EML instead decided to list by way of an introduction.
The reason being, their long years of operating history, required that they earn the status of being a listed entity, so that they would be in a better position, when they bid for local and international contracts in the consultancy space..”