First Local Company to Secure a Global IPO

JKH is listed on the Luxembourg bourse

There are those who would argue that the best measure of a nation’s worth is the value of what it exports. These range from its products to the people who comprise a country and often seek employment or permanent residence overseas by dint of emigration.

One school of thought holds that in an age of global commercialism, the gold standard would be a local business that receives international attention on a foreign stock exchange. The best exemplar of this achievement is indubitably John Keells Holdings (JKH), which was the first Sri Lankan company to be listed on a bourse abroad.

At home, the premier listing of JKH – the investment holding company of the John Keells Group – was transacted on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in 1986; it was the largest IPO of that time.

A year or so later (by March 1987), JKH reflected a market capitalisation of Rs. 110 million, of which a quarter was held by 2,179 shareholders.

Today, the conglomerate enjoys a market cap in excess of 215 billion rupees and the confidence of over 11,000 shareholders in a broad-based ownership that includes the participation of many internationally renowned institutional funds – many of whom had been long-time global stakeholders of the group.

JKH went on to add another international feather to its redoubtable cap: in 1994, the John Keells Group became the first Sri Lankan company or conglomerate to obtain a listing overseas. That was when the local business with a demonstrably strong track record at home and away issued global depository receipts that were quoted on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

JKH – a diversified group of companies with business interests primarily in tourism (it manages hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka and the Maldives); transportation (including port, marine fuel and logistics services); leisure; property; financial services; information technology; consumer foods and retail – continues to be one of the largest listed companies on the CSE today.

And having been LMD’s ‘Most Respected Entity’ many times over, JKH has certainly gone the full nine yards since being incorporated as a publicly owned limited liability company in 1979.

JKH went on to add another international feather to its redoubtable cap: in 1994, the John Keells Group became the first Sri Lankan company or conglomerate to obtain a listing overseas