Usaha Tegas, the parent group of Malaysian telco Maxis, has raised its stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) to 42%, via its subsidiary Global Telecommunications Holdings (GTH). The Malaysian group bought a 35.2% stake in SLT for USD297 million last month from Japan’s NTT, and has raised its holding through a mandatory share offer. SLT’s largest shareholder, the Sri Lankan government, previously told GTH that it and its related institutions would not take part in the offer and would collectively continue to exert control over the national PTO by holding over 50% of its issued and paid-up share capital. The government directly owns a 49.5% stake in SLT, registered to the Treasury Secretary, with additional stakes held by two other state-owned institutions, NSB (0.71%) and EPF (1.02%), giving the authorities a total interest of 51.23%. Global Telecommunications Holdings is a Netherlands Antilles-based firm, itself wholly owned by Global Communications Investments, which in turn is wholly owned by Usaha Tegas, a Malaysian conglomerate involved in telecoms, broadcasting and media, leisure, entertainment and property, with revenues of USD168.1 billion in 2007.

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