Alles Family
The Alles family owns and manages Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited which produces the Ceylon Today and Mawbima newspapers. Tiran Prasanna Christopher Alles, also referred to as Tiran Alles, is the founder and Chairperson of Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited. He owns 49.99 percent of the company. Tiran is a former parliamentarian from the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). Apogee Holdings (Pvt) Limited owns the remaining 49.99 percent Apogee Holdings (Pvt) Limited is a legal entity that provides business solutions to Sri Lanka's corporate sector. Their services range from telecommunications to security, safety, power and energy, and construction. Apogee Holdings (Pvt) Limited is owned by both Tiran and his son Ramantha Alles. They both hold equal amounts of shares (50 percent). However, Tiran’s combined shares at Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited and Apogee Holdings (Pvt) Limited enables him to have a significant control over Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited, with 75 percent of shares in the company.
Tiran is the former Chairperson of the Civil Aviation Authority and Reconstruction and Development Authority (RADA). Having started Communication Business Equipment (Pvt) Limited in 1988, Standard Newspapers (Pvt) Limited in 2005 and Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited in 2011, Tiran is also a well-known businessman.
Alles’s Standard Newspapers (Pvt) Limited was condemned by the former government, leading to the closure of the publication house and detainment of Alles and several staff members by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID). Several media-related groups, including Reporters Without Borders, the Free Media Movement and Humans Rights Watch condemned the government’s actions.
Business
Education
Gateway Group
Services
Apogee Holdings
Family & Friends
Affiliated Interests Family Members Friends
Ramantha Alles – Tiran Alles's son and an Executive Director at Apogee Holdings, in which he holds 50 percent of shares.
Further Information
Meta Data
Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited does not have an official website. The official newspaper web portal does not provide any details about its founder, board of directors or its organisational structure. As such publicly available secondary sources were referenced. Information was also accessed through the Department of Registrar of Companies. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Limited by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request.
