• EPF’s investments in listed and unlisted equities yielded a Rs. 53.3 b net gain
• Equity holdings reach 4.4% of the fund’s total value, alongside fixed income investments

Sri Lanka’s Employee Provident Fund (EPF) had a net gain of about 50% year-on-year (y-o-y) from its investment in listed and unlisted equities in 2024, with investments focusing on the banking sector, financial statements showed.

The financial statements for the year 2024 showed that the EPF had a net gain from listed and unlisted equities of Rs. 53.3 billion by the end of 2024, which is a 49.4% gain from the year earlier.

The EPF invested Rs. 2.9 billion in the 46 listed equities in 2024, increasing its purchase cost of equities to Rs. 88.3 billion, with the banking sector taking about 41% of the total investments.

Moreover, EPF invested Rs. 4.3 billion in nine unlisted equities in 2024, taking the purchase cost by the end of 2024 to Rs. 9.1 billion.

The fund holds 27.04% of the total shareholding of the West Coast Power (Pvt) Ltd.

However, the fund acquired this investment as an investment in plan assets to obtain the benefits from the changes in fair value and not intending to exercise significant influence over the investor.

By the close of 2024, the EPF’s total holdings in listed and unlisted equities grew by 0.9%, reaching 4.4% of the fund’s total value.

Further, the fund’s investments in fixed income securities amounted to Rs. 3 trillion in 2024, with reverse repo investments amounting to Rs. 1.9 trillion, while maturities amounted to Rs. 2.5 trillion.