Ishara buys Chris’ company!

Jul 15, 2016

Wealthy businessman Ishara Nanayakkara’s Browns Group yesterday (14) bought control of Agalawatte Plantations (APL), whose majority shareholder was former Sri Lankan high commissioner in Britain Dr. Chris Nonis, for Rs. 304 million, say Colombo share market sources.

Nonis’s Mackwoods Securities (MS) owned a 60 per cent stake of APL, and 15.2 million out of its total 25 million shares were traded. Dr. Nonis and a sister of his are in a dispute over the management of the 170-year-old MS and the matter is now before courts.

Several employees expelled for the good of the company by his mother Sriyani Nonis, who committed her life to take MS to international level, and his grandfather N.S.O. Mendis, who bought the company from the British,  together with certain politicians, have created this dispute in the Nonis family, say reliable sources. Also party to the conspiracy is a notorious arms trafficker, who had divorced from a Nonis family daughter, as Dr. Nonis had refused to appoint his two daughters to the director board, which had led to the creation of this dispute, the sources say.

The aggrieved parties are now trying to get a court order to suspend the sale of APL.

When contacted, Browns Group chairman Ishara Nanayakkara told Lanka News Web that he had bought APL successfully within a short period. It was done legally and with transparency through the Colombo share market, he added.