Distilleries’ purchase of Heineken Asia Pacific stimulates share market

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

Although stock market activities were not very notable yesterday, a most significant deal occurred when Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka signed a sale and purchase agreement with Heineken Asia Pacific Pvt. Ltd to acquire the entire company, which owns three leading beer brands, namely Heineken , Tiger and Anchor, market analysts said.

This was a significant deal for Distilleries, which could significantly make their presence felt in the lucrative beer market with this acquisition. Amid those developments, the All Share Price Index went down by 15.27 points and S and P SL20 rose by 3.68 points. A crossing was reported in Carson’s, which crossed 393.9 million shares to the tune of Rs 98.3 million; its shares traded at Rs 249.75.

In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Melstacorp Rs 130.9 million (1.6 million shares traded), Distilleries Rs 111 million (4.1 million shares traded), Carson’s Rs 36.1 million (144.5 million shares traded), Lanka Milk Foods Rs 35.8 million (165,641 shares traded) and Browns Investments Rs 31 million (6.2 million shares traded). During the day 38.3 million share volumes changed hands in 7500 transactions.

It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Melstacorp, Carson’s and JKH. Mixed interest was observed in Capital Alliance, Expolanka Holdings and Ceylon Grain Elevators, while retail interest was noted in First Capital Holdings, First Capital Treasuries and Lanka Milk Foods.

The Food, Beverage & Tobacco sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Ceylon Grain Elevators), Vidullanka, Sanasa Development Bank and John Keells Holdings included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of Vidullanka closed flat at Rs 6.90. The share price of Sanasa Development Bank lost Rs 1.40 to settle at Rs 32.10.

Bond yields were largely flat. A bond maturing on 01.06.2025 quoted at 14.60/60 percent from yesterday’s 14.50/85 percent. A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 was quoted flat at 70/80 percent. A bond maturing on 15.01.2027 was quoted at 14.65/80. A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 was quoted at 14.75/85 from yesterday’s 14.70/85 percent. A bond maturing on 15.05.2030 was quoted at 15.35/65 from yesterday’s 14.35/55 percent.