The controlling shareholder of Hotel Services is Mr. Umar Kumar Sharma who held over 90% of the company.

Brokers said that parties connected with Mr. Nahil Wijesuriya, the well known Colombo businessman, were the buyers and there were reports that the purchase was associated with a Singapore incorporated investment vehicle.

The Hotel Services trade was done at a Rs.138 price with the counter trading yesterday between a low of Rs.138 and a high of Rs.143.Sharma owned 97.3% of the company while another 0.7% was registered in the name of S.R. Sharma.

The seller bought his stake of the owning company of the country’s first five-star hotel, whose management was franchised to the Intercontinental Hotels Corporation, at Rs.26 a share in 1996. He has thus made a substantial capital gain.

There was no word on whether Sharma would retain a minority stake in the owning company of the hotel which was run by him without a franchise operator.Yesterday’s Hotel Services deal netted slightly over Rs.1.3 billion of the Rs.1.37 billion total turnover. Both indices were down during the day, the All Share by 10.77 points (0.41%) and the Milanka by 19.15 points (0.58%).