Tilak de Zoysa takes helm of Al-Futtaim controlled AMW

Mr. Tilak de Zoysa has assumed the chairmanship of Associated Motorways PLC (AMW) from October 1 succeeding his brother, Ajita, who ended his tenure on September 30, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has been notified.

De Zoysa long served AMW as Deputy Chairman/Managing Director and is expected to continue for some years as the Chairman of the company which is now controlled by Al-Futtaim Engineering which had by last week acquired 96.06% of the company.

Al-Futtaim has nominated three new non-executive directors to the AMW board. They are Mr. Colin Leitch, the CEO of its Automotive Division, Mr.

David Ford, handling strategic investment for Al-Futtaim, and Mr. Avijit Majumdar, a key financial controller.

There are no plans yet to post an expatriate director here and the name of the game at present is ``business as usual.’’

The automotive business is about 60% of the Al-Futtaim group which has been diversifying into real estate and other businesses including, most recently, retailing having acquired Robinson’s department store in Singapore.

These new Al-Futtaim directors succeed Mr. K. Kanag-Isvaran PC, JKH Chairman Susantha Ratnayake, Mr. Dinesh de Zoysa and Mr. J.B.L. de Silva who have resigned from the AMW board with effect from September 26.

Analysts expect Al-Futtaim to look at its AMW investment within a 10-year horizon and initially focus on the IT systems in the Sri Lanka company in order to make them compatible with those of the parent.

The new AMW chairman is a nephew of Sir Cyril de Zoysa, the company’s founder, who currently serves as a member of the Monetary Board and he is also Chairman of Carson Cumberbatch & Company, one of the wealthiest conglomerates in Sri Lanka with massive oil palm plantation assets in Indonesia and Malaysia.

De Zoysa is one of several independent directors invited to serve on the Carson’s board by the two controlling shareholders of the Selvanathan family who also sit on the company’s board.

He is Chairman of HelpAge Sri Lanka and serves on the boards of John Keells PLC (not JKH), Taj Lanka Hotels, Lanka Walltiles, Nawaloka Hospitals, and HelpAge International, UK. A past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, he is Consul here for Croatia and is also a pat Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.

AMW has already gone public with plans to develop valuable real estate with Union Place frontage in partnership with JKH and James Finlay.

Analysts believe that Al-Futtaim may be interested in expanding these plans with further land acquisitions adjoining the property already earmarked for development.

Before these plans can gel, AMW will have to move out of its Union Place headquarters to Elvitigala Mawatha where its Maruti showroom and workshops are located and develop land available there to enable the move.

Al-Futtaim took controlling interest of AMW in August and had received acceptances of over 0.5 million shares (0.82% of the company) when its mandatory offer of Rs174.50 per share closed last week.

Meanwhile, Al-Futtaim was mopping up all available shares on the secondary market and had acquired nearly 10 million shares (17.87%) on the trading floor of the CSE between August 22 and October 7.