Trading of a 2% stake in the illiquid Ceylinco Holdings PLC generated significant interest yesterday at the Colombo Stock Exchange.
A total of 398,614 shares of Ceylinco Holdings were traded via 65 transactions at Rs. 3,000 per share, generating a turnover of Rs. 1.2 billion. Of this, 1.65% or 328,712 shares were executed through 14 crossings.
Ceylinco Holdings contributed the largest portion to yesterday’s Rs. 8 billion turnover. The share price surged by 13%, or Rs. 357.50, to close at Rs. 3,045.75, compared to last Friday’s trade of just 107 shares at Rs. 2,600.
The seller is believed to be Global Rubber Industries (GRI) or related parties. As of 30 September, GRI was the largest shareholder of Ceylinco Holdings PLC, holding 4.45 million voting shares (22.25% stake). GRI’s owner Prabhash Subasinghe also individually held 913,000 shares (4.56%), while Global Sea Food Ltd., a related party, controlled 0.6 million shares (3.16%).
It remains unconfirmed whether the sale involved institutional or personal holdings.
The Net Asset Value per Share of Ceylinco Holdings increased to Rs. 699.49, up from Rs. 686.35 as of 31 December 2023. During the third quarter, the highest share price was Rs. 2,671.50, while the lowest was Rs. 2,220, closing the quarter at Rs. 2,220.25.
Despite having a public float of 83.91% held by 2,004 shareholders, Ceylinco Holdings rarely trades. In the entire third quarter, only 95,306 shares changed hands via 105 transactions, generating Rs. 236 million in turnover.