Lanka Realty Investments PLC (LRI) plans to raise up to Rs. 3.62 billion through a rights issue of 96 million ordinary shares at Rs. 37.50 per share, the company announced on Friday (1) in a Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) disclosure. A bulk of the capital raised, Rs. 1.8 billion, is to be used for the settlement of debt obligations of subsidiary companies, while Rs. 900 million will go towards the acquisition of income yielding commercial assets. A further Rs. 450 million will be spent on the development of existing properties held by two subsidiaries while Rs. 477 million will be invested in the real estate sector. The shares are to be distributed with one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares held. The current stated capital of the company is Rs. 6.3 billion represented by 193 million ordinary shares. The rights issue is subject to the approval of the CSE as well as Lanka Realty’s shareholders. In October 2017, LRI was acquired by a consortium of British and Sri Lankan investors with the aim of becoming the largest real estate company listed on the CSE. Subsequent to the acquisition, LRI carried out a rights issue, raising Rs. 632.9 million in October 2018. LRI earlier this year concluded the largest-ever acquisition share swap worth Rs. 5.6 billion for the acquisition of the entire shareholding in six privately held companies which have exposure to the commercial property, affordable housing, and tourism and leisure sectors, thus expanding the group’s overall real estate exposure. Through the share swap, LRI issued 149,179,853 ordinary voting shares of the company at an issue price of Rs. 37.52 per share to the shareholders of six private companies in return for their shares in these six companies. The LRI Group has 11 subsidiaries and three sub-subsidiaries with business interests in commercial property, affordable residential property, real estate land banks, leisure, and manufacturing. As at August 2019, the group held 8.4 acres of freehold land in Colombo with planning permission for the development of 1,649 residential units, a circa 100,000 sq. ft. office building in Colombo 10, three operational boutique hotels and villas in Colombo, Weligama, and Ahangama with 44 rooms, two leisure sector development projects under construction for 30 rooms in Yala and 53 rooms in Ambalangoda, and two companies operating in the manufacture of construction material. The Board of Directors of LRI comprises Chairman Mohan Ratnayake, Executive Directors Mohamed Hisham Jamaldeen and Archie James Buckland Warman, and Non-Executive Directors Terence Charles Smith, Ian Joseph McVeigh, Mohamed Firdouse Farook, Saravanan Neelakandan, and Kudagamage Jayantha Pradeep.