E M L Consultants turns into first listed agency representing consultancy area on CSE – Enterprise Information
- Listing 90.9 million shares on CSE’s Empower Board
EML Consultants Limited started trading on the Empower Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday.
The company listed 90,900,000 voting common shares and was assigned to the 2020 – Commercial and Professional Services industry group.
The CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike commented on the listing and welcomed the company to the Empower Board.
“2021 was a significant year for the CSE’s primary market in terms of capital raised as the exchange enabled over 30 new listings of nearly Rs.100 billion, surpassing Rs.66 billion of capital raised last year . ”
Avanthi Jayatilake, Managing Director / Executive Director of EML Consultants Limited, welcomed the new shareholders to the company through secondary market trading.
“As a company representing SMEs in Sri Lanka, I appreciate the work the SEC and CSE have done in creating a special listing platform for SMEs in the country. We chose the path of an introductory listing as opposed to an IPO because we are more interested in attaining the status of a listed company, which strengthens our image and reputation and increases our chances of winning projects internationally with international donors. And we will certainly look for more equity issues at a later date to raise capital when we are ready to face international competition, ”he said.
“Finally, let me give you a glimpse into the company’s future business plans. We will certainly advance into the international business area, first in the region and then we can really look into the Pacific and Southeast Asia. We also want to compete on all types of infrastructure projects where we can work with the investors and development partners. Finally, let me invite secondary market investors to buy the shares of EML Consultants Limited, ”he added.
Representing Atarah Capital Partners (Pvt.) Ltd, the listing manager and sponsor, Managing Director Rohan Senewiratne commented, “This listing has few unique characteristics. First, there are no companies listed on the CSE that are active in the consulting sector. So we congratulate EML Consultants Limited on setting the pace and I hope other companies will follow suit. Second, EML Consultants Limited is a medium-sized company. One would agree that an SME in its growth phase would like to go public and raise capital. However, EML decided to introduce the list instead. The reason for this is that, due to its long operating history, it requires the status of a listed company in order to be better positioned for offers for local and international assignments in the consulting area. “
