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Swarnavahini

The Sinhala language TV channel Swarnavahini has been on air since 16 March 1997. The channel is under EAP Broadcasting Company Limited and telecasts an array of programmes including news segments, reality shows, talk shows and teledramas. The channel is also reportedly the first to air morning programming in the country. However, since 2015, EAP Broadcasting Company Limited, part of EAP Holdings, has faced several changes in terms of its ownership and management mostly due to financial troubles. Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka stepped in to manage EAP Holdings. The lack of information and ambiguity surrounding the ownership of the EAP Group has been lengthily discussed in the local media. Presently, the websites of EAP Holdings and Swarnavahini.lk are under construction, and there is still a lack of clarity as to who controls the channel.

In 2017, all the shares of EAP Broadcasting were split between Ranawaka Arachchilage Michael Anthony De Alwis, Edinadura Wipula De Soysa and ETI Finance Limited (99.99%). In March 2018, 39.99% of shares that were held by ETI Finance Limited, were then sold to a Singapore-based wealth management company, Blue Summit Capital Management Pte. Limited. Meanwhile, 59.99% shares of EAP Broadcasting Company Limited were sold to Ben Holdings (Pvt) Limited, a company which is based in Sri Lanka. Alexis Indrajit Lovell is the sole shareholder of Ben Holdings (Pvt) Limited, whereas Blue Summit Capital Management Pte. Limited is owned by the Portugal-based Pettigo Commercio Internacional LDA. This Portuguese company owns the trademarks of Lycamobile, Lyca and Lycafly. The company is affiliated with Allirajah Subaskaran, the owner of Lycamobile, an international mobile network operator based in London.

It is possible that Ranawaka Arachchilage Michael Anthony De Alwis and Edinadura Wipula Soysa still own one share each while ETI Finance Limited may own two shares. EAP Broadcasting has not filed an annual return since these share transfers took place in order to determine the present ownership structure.

Key facts

Audience Share

8.8%

Ownership Type

Private

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

Free to air

Data Publicly Available

ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

2 ♥

Media Companies / Groups

EAP Broadcasting Company Limited

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Swarnavahini is managed by EAP Broadcasting Company Limited, where ETI Finance Limited used to have majority shares until 2017. In March 2018, 39.99% of shares that were held by ETI Finance Limited, were sold to a Singapore-based wealth management company, Blue Summit Capital Management Pte. Limited. Meanwhile, 59.99% shares of EAP Broadcasting Company Limited were sold to Ben Holdings (Pvt) Limited, a company which is based in Sri Lanka. Alexis Indrajit Lovell is the sole shareholder of Ben Holdings (Pvt) Limited, whereas Blue Summit Capital Management Pte Limited is owned by the Portugal-based company, Pettigo Commercio Internacional LDA. This Portuguese company owns the trademarks of Lycamobile, Lyca and Lycafly. The company is affiliated with Allirajah Subaskaran, the owner of Lycamobile, which an international mobile network operator based in London. It is uncertain as to whether ETI holds 2 shares and Ranawaka Arachchcige Michael Anthony De Alwis and Edinadura Wipula De Soysa own one share each, as an annual return has not been filed since the transfer of shares.

Voting Rights

Missing Data

Individual Owner

Media Companies / Groups
Facts

General Information

Founding Year

1994

Affiliated Interests Founder

EAP Broadcasting Company Limited, which operates the Swarnavahini TV channel, was started by the Edirisinghe family. Founded by E.A.P. Edirisinghe in the 1930s, EAP Holdings Limited (the parent company of EAP Broadcasting), initially began in the pawning industry. Thereinafter, the business branched into several sectors such as: two finance companies – Saravana Finance and Edirisinghe Trust Investments (ETI) Limited, broadcasting, hospitality, jewellery, and theatres. After E.A.P. Edirisinghe passed way in 1974, his wife Soma Edirisinghe took over the company, which consisted of 25 subsidiary companies and spanned over diverse industries. She was the first female District Governor of the Lions Club (2003 – 2004) and is widely known for her philanthropic initiatives such as establishing the charity organisation, Janasara Foundation. After Soma passed away in 2015, her children – Jeewaka, Nalaka, Asanka and Deepa Edirisinghe – took-over the business.

Affiliated Interests Ceo

As per the annual returns available for the year 2018 at the Department of Registrar of Companies, the CEO is listed as a Malaysian-based individual, Thomas Mathew.

Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief

Missing Data

Affiliated Interests other important people

Asanka Srimal Edirisinghe – the son of the founder of EAP Holdings and an Executive Director at Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC. He also serves as a Director in over 15 companies, many of which are affiliated with the EAP Group of companies. In July 2018, it was reported that Asanka Srimal Edirisinghe, along with three other Directors from the EAP Group, had been issued a travel ban by the Colombo Fort Magistrate, Lanka Jayaratne. On 10 July 2018, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued a public notice requesting for information on assets and properties held by the aforementioned Directors. As per the data available at the Department of Registrar of Companies for May 2018, he is listed as a Director of EAP Broadcasting Company Limited.

Contact

EAP Broadcasting Company Limited

No.676 A2, Galle Road, Colombo 3

Tel: +947 534 534

Website: www.eapholdings.lk

Financial Information

Revenue (in Mill. $)

Missing Data

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

Missing Data

Advertising (in % of total funding)

Missing Data

Market Share

Missing Data

Further Information

Meta Data

The official website of EAP Holdings has been under construction for over two months, making the access to information on the company’s present ownership difficult to obtain. As such, the MOM research term referenced several newspaper reports, in addition to gathering shareholder details through the annual returns available at the Department of Registrar of Companies. The most recent data was available for the year 2017. However, documents on the transfer of shares was for the year 2018. As mentioned above, an annual return has not been filed by EAP Broadcasting Company Limited since the transfer of shares to Blue Summit Capital Pte. Limited and Ben Holdings (Pvt) Limited. Blue Summit Capital Pte. Limited also does not have an official website. Information on Blue Summit Capital Pte. Limited was obtained from the Singapore Registrar of Companies. Viewership data on Swarnavahini was obtained from the Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to EAP Broadcasting Company Limited by formally requesting for the company’s information on 25 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request.

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