Hidden Agenda?

A Saudi Arabian investor has sought permission to raise his stakes in Commercial Bank of Ceylon, as key shareholders try to oust the bank’s present Chairman.







A Saudi Arabian investor has sought permission to raise his stakes in Commercial Bank of Ceylon, as key shareholders try to oust the bank’s present Chairman. Saudi Arabia's Euro Gulf Management, a unit of the Al Mashal Group, wrote to regulatory authorities early this week to up his 10 percent stake by five percent – a move, analysts say is aimed at somewhat negating a key shareholder’s clout in the bank.

Regulators have yet to respond, but Commercial Bank’s key shareholders, the Harry Jayawardena led Distilleries Group, has called for an extraordinary general meeting on November 2, to oust the bank’s Chairman, Mahendra Amarasuriya.

The joint requisition dated Sept 21, has been sent in by Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Insurance – two firms controlled by the business tycoon.

‘The EGM is for the purpose of removing Mahendra J C Amarasuriya as a director of the company’, the bank’s Company Secretary R R Dunuwille said in a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange on Thursday.