Friday 19th March, 2010

Published by Upali Newspapers (Private) Limited, 223, Bloemendhal Road, Colombo 13 and Printed at 195/187, High Level Road, Homagama on Friday 19th March, 2010

Sri Lanka Telecom, the nation’stelecommunication giant,announced the launch of its newCorporate Vision, Mission andValues. The official launch ceremo-ny took place recently at theCompany Headquarters. With theultimate goal of becoming a moremarket driven customer centricorganization, the companyembarked on a company-wide“Transformation” programme lastyear. The launch of the newVision, Mission and Values is one

of the first steps to implementingthis transformation programme,setting the new direction for theCompany and further empoweringand motivating employees to trans-form along with the Company.

The new Vision of theCompany is: “All Sri Lankansseamlessly connected with worldclass information, communicationand entertainment services”. SriLanka Telecom has alreadyembraced the exciting possibilitiesthat new technologies offer, and the challenges of making these

technologies accessible to thewidest consumer base possible.

The Company’s new Mission is:“Your trusted and proven partnerfor innovative and exciting com-munication experiences deliveredwith passion, quality and commit-ment”. Steps towards this isalready underway as the companyis transforming its traditional net-work to a Next GenerationNetwork (NGN). Sri LankaTelecom has also made a consider-able investment in broadband tech-

nology, offering a wide variety ofbroadband packages to suit thevarying needs of different con-sumer groups.

The Company Values are:Customer Caring, Trustworthy,Innovative, Responsive, Teamwork,Excellence, Results Driven. Thesevalues spell out the new culture &philosophy of Sri Lanka Telecom,touching the way the Companyoperates and works throughout theorganization.

These new vision, mission and

values direct Sri Lanka Telecom’sfuture steps into establishing itselfnot only in the communicationssector, but also in the informationas well as entertainment sectors,which are increasingly being con-verged day by day. With this trans-formation programme, theCompany expects to see a notice-able change throughout the organi-zation – including the organizationculture, attitudes and perceptionsof employees as well as the workenvironment.

NDB Investment Bank (NDBIB) success-fully arranged a 6 year syndicated loan facili-ty for Elpitiya Plantations PLC to refinancetheir short term high cost borrowings and torestructure the balance sheet. The IndianOverseas Bank and the State Bank of India

participated in this loan facility. This is thelongest term loan syndication arranged byNDBIB for the plantations sector. NDBIB hasbeen a foremost investment bank that sup-ports the sector to move forward irrespectiveof the challenges faced by the industry.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID)will be conducting the 3rd module in theirseries of trainings on Corporate Stewardship& Board Room Governance on Thursday18th March at the Cinnamon Grand. Thetopic “Focusing on Key Areas Reserved forthe Board” will be lead by Lalith De Mel,Chairman Hemas Holdings, with the supportof Messrs Ajit Gunewardena DeputyChairman John Keells Holdings, N.G.(Tanky) Wickremeratne former ChairmanHayleys Group, Aritha WickramanayakePrecedent Partner Nithya Partners, Dr. HansWijayasuriya Group CEO Dialog and Dr.Uditha Liyanage Director Post GraduateInstitute of Management.

This no doubt is a formidable panel of verysenior experienced Directors who will notonly add value through their knowledge, butwill also act as inspirational role models tothe participants. The CEO of SLID Ms LilaniPerera said that the last two modules in thisseries had been conducted to a “full house”and she was concerned that SLID could notmeet with the demand for this series. “Havingan opportunity to interact with corporate per-sonalities of such a high caliber from the SriLankan board rooms, makes it the attractionfor these sessions’’ she said. We have over50 senior faculty members who will addressthe participants. These sessions are very

convenient to attend and are conducted from4.00 pm to 7.00 pm not cutting in to the workschedule of the participants.

The 4th module in this series will be on“Effectively dealing with Contemporary BoardIssues “ to be conducted on 22nd April at theCinnamon Grand. The panelists for thiswould be lead by Mr. Ranjith Fernando, for-mer CEO & Director of the NationalDevelopment Bank PLC, and supported byMessrs J.D. Bandaranayake Chairman ofCeylon Tobacco Company PLC, ReyazMihular Partner, Head of IFRS, KPMG FordRhodes Thornton & Co, Amal CabraalChairman Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd, ChandimaGunawardena Director Carson CumberbatchPLC, Kishu Gomes MD & CEO of ChevronLubricants Lanka PLC.

Modules 5 & 6 will deal with “AFunctioning Remuneration Committee” and“Governance Issues of SpecificOrganization” and are scheduled for 20thMay and 24th June 2010, thus completingthis series of six modules on CorporateStewardship & Board Room Governance.

The wide range of topics discussed with ahealthy interaction from the audience overthe last two months has generated certainlearning outcomes for all those present at thesessions, and has made this series very pop-ular.

SLT launches new Corporate Vision, Mission & ValuesTaking next steps towards transformation and further customer centricity

SLID ‘Focusing on Key AreasReserved for the Board’

NDB Investment Bankarranges loan syndicationfor Elpitiya Plantations PLC

Chief Operating Officer NDBIB Ms. Kaushini Laksumanage, Senior Manager IndianOverseas Bank R. Krishnamoorthy, NDBIB Ms. Niyomi Pushpakumara, CountryHead Indian Overseas Bank C. Rajachandramohan, Vice President (Credit) StateBank of India C.L.N. Charyulu, Managing Director Elpitiya Plantations PLC Dr.Rohan Fernando, Director Elpitiya Plantations PLC Devan de Mel, CEO ElpitiyaPlantations PLC A.L.W. Goonewardena, General Manager Finance ElpitiyaPlantations PLC Damith Kumarapperuma.

The report of CathayConstruction's latest land acqui-sition in Xindian City onTuesday and the public auctionof a premium land lot in Tianmuof Taipei City today are widelyseen as new optimistic signalsfor the continuously bullish realestate market in the GreaterTaipei area.

Construction shares gainedthe most at 2.53 per cent amongall sectors on the Taiwan stockmarket as the market's key priceindex rose 60.71 points, or 0.79per cent, to close at 7,695.63Tuesday.

Cathay Construction, the real-ty development arm of theCathay Financial Group, madepublic the information that thecompany has purchased newland parcels valued at NT$2.789billion (US$88 million), averagingNT$2.2 million (US$69,300) perping (one ping equals 36 squarefeet), in Xindian of TaipeiCounty.

A company statement said

that the new land lots wereacquired mainly because of theirproximity to the Xindian CityHall Station of the Mass RapidTransit (MRT) system in theGreater Taipei area.

Market analysts said that theland space will enable CathayConstruction to build new apart-ments with aggregate marketvalue of more than NT$6 billion.

The new housing units can beeasily sold out to families thatplan to move out of capitalTaipei to Taipei County, which ispoised to be upgraded later thisyear to a new special municipallyunder the name of Xinbei (NewTaipei) City.

Aside from Xindian, CathayConstruction has already accu-mulated land lots in other Xinbeiareas, including Xinzhuang Citythat will also be served with anew MRT line.

This points to the trend thatrealty development companieshave are increasing projects inXinbei that still have vast land

for development, said realty ana-lysts.

The public auction of theprime land lot of 1,715 ping onTianmu East Road in Tianmudistrict of Taipei City has drawnspecial market attention after thegovernment announced a newpolicy earlier this month to sus-pend sales of state-owned primeland lots in capital Taipei.

The halt on sales of govern-ment land in Taipei City was inresponse to mounting complaintsabout the runaway apartmentprices that are out of the reach ofmost wage earners.

But the measure is expectedto only drive up the prices of pri-vately owned land properties thathave become more scarce andprecious for developers.

The land lot in Tianmu, cur-rently used by Holy WordChildren's Home for of about 50orphans, was put on sale by theprivate owner, a Christian organ-ization.

The floor bidding price was

set at NT$4.97 billion or NT$2.9million per ping.

Many life insurance firms,financial institutions, construc-tion companies, and businessconglomerates have expressedkeen interest in acquiring theproperty as the opportunities tobuy government land in Taipeiare now temporarily suspended.

But some analysts said thatthere could be only about a dozenof bids tendered.

Under the government's pres-ent policy of cooling down thereal estate market, bank loansthat can be raised by potentialinvestors will remain a majorconcern.

Although the large businessgroups are eager to snap up therare land lot, some senior execu-tives at the interested enterprisesdemonstrated reservations forfear of being blamed as culpritsin fueling speculation in the realestate market if the eventual bid-ding price sets a new record, saidthe analysts. -ANN

Real estate market in Taipei areashows optimistic growth

Six months after the Cabinet of JapanesePrime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office, theadministration's economic management isincreasingly in disarray.

Its strategy to expand domestic demand withfinancial assistance to households has nothelped the nation arrest deflation.

In the face of mounting criticism both athome and abroad against its growth strategyand fiscal reconstruction measures, Hatoyamahas begun modifying his administration's initialplans, showing willingness to strengthen corpo-rate competitiveness and start discussions on aconsumption tax hike.

"The Nippon-maru (the ship of Japan) is defi-nitely not the Titanic. It has made a fresh startwith a new engine," Hatoyama said at theHouse of Councillors Budget Committee onFriday (March 12), showing confidence in hiseconomic management.

However, many observers believe that theadministration's economic reconstruction plan,drawn up at the time of its launch in September,is on the verge of collapse.

The Cabinet planned to expand domesticdemand by allocating its budget in a way thathelps households, such as through the child-

rearing allowance program, with fiscalresources generated by cutting wasteful spend-ing.

Under the fiscal 2010 budget, worth a record92.3 trillion yen, the amount of new governmentbond issuance will reach 44.3 trillion yen due toa decline in tax revenues resulting from thesluggish economy, surpassing tax revenues ofabout 37.4 trillion yen for the first time sinceWorld War II.

Though the government planned to raiseabout 20 trillion yen by reviewing budgetrequests and other measures, its showy budgetscreening turned out to be able to squeeze outless than 700 billion yen.

In a monthly economic report releasedMonday, the government upgraded its assess-ment of the state of the nation's economy forthe first time in eight months. However, theeconomy is still far from escaping deflation.

On the other hand, there are growing con-cerns that Japan's fiscal condition may deterio-rate. At the end of January, Standard & Poor's,a U.S. credit rating firm, lowered Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating outlook to "negative"-a critical view of the government's stance.

Not even muddling through

During the past six months, the Cabinet's laxapproach to economic management also hasbeen exposed.

A key Cabinet member was quoted by hisaide as saying; "Before the change of power,we said we'd somehow muddle through oncewe took power. We were wrong."

Facing this harsh reality, the governmentstarted to modify its manifesto policies, ratherthan sticking to them.

For instance, Hatoyama expressed his inten-tion to start discussions on a consumption taxhike, reversing his pledge that he would neitherraise the tax rate or hold discussions on theissue for four years.

He also expressed a willingness to lowercorporate tax rates, a decision that was put offat the government's Tax Commission at the endof last year.

Now, the government is facing the difficulttask combining its growth strategy with fiscalreconstruction, according to Takahide Kiuchi ofNomura Securities Financial and EconomicResearch Center. It remains uncertain howeffective its policy modifications can be in tack-ling the problem.

In the market, attention is now focused on

details of the government's new growth strategyand its midterm fiscal framework to be drawn upin June. The new growth strategy will aim atresuscitating the country's economy, while themidterm fiscal framework will chart the coun-try's fiscal management for the next three yearsor so.

With its growth strategy, the governmentplans to stimulate the economy through effortsin such fields as tourism, medical services andthe environment. But deregulation and othermeasures intended to help vitalise the privatesector are still pending.

Fiscal reconstruction will be an even moredifficult problem. In the fiscal 2011 budget,spending is expected to see a further increaseof at least about 7 trillion yen to cover suchcosts as social security and the payment of thechild-rearing allowance.

Nevertheless, discussion on drastic tax sys-tem reform, initially scheduled to start in March,now looks unlikely to start anytime soon. Amidranking Democratic Party of Japan memberconfided that talk of reform might be merely acase of posturing ahead of the upper houseelection scheduled in summer.

-ANN

Cabinet at sea as Japanese economy sinks

Tension is growing at Korean liquid crystaldisplay makers Samsung and LG Display asChina is expected to soon pick companies tobuild their LCD plants on the mainland.

The high-stakes decision could reshape agrowing competition among panel makers tograb a bigger share of the Chinese market,which is emerging as the world's biggest forLCD TVs, industry officials said.

Industry officials say only one of the twoKorean LCD suppliers may be able to winBeijing's approval because of competition withChinese and Taiwanese companies.

Six LCD manufacturers including Samsung

and LG are known to have applied to constructtheir LCD factories in China, but Beijing isexpected to choose only two or three LCDmakers out of the six, industry officials say.

The six firms are Korea's Samsung and LG,Taiwan's AU Optronics and Chi Mei, Japan'sSharp and China's BOE. Two tickets may goto Chinese and Taiwanese LCD makers, whilethe remaining one may go to one of theKorean firms, industry officials say.

"Samsung and LG Display are on high alertahead of Beijing's decision," Park Han-jin,director of Beijing office of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, told The Korea

Herald.Chinese authorities are not expected to

approve all of the applicants because of con-cerns about a potential oversupply in theindustry, he said.

AU Optronics, the world's No. 3 LCD maker,said on Monday that it has applied to set up anew LCD factory in Kunshan in China's east-ern province of Jiangsu, with investment ofabout US$3 billion.

Speculation has it that amid thawing rela-tions between China and Taiwan, Beijing isexpected to give the green light to LCD facto-ries eyed by one of the two Taiwanese compa-

nies. The chances are also high that China'sBOE may be able to gain the OK from Beijingfor its LCD plant.

"When taking politics into consideration,China may pick a Taiwanese company. ...China also puts priority on its homegrowncompanies," Park said, adding that it is hard topredict which companies will be chosen.

LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo said onFriday that he is positive about the prospect ofwinning an approval from Beijing, saying itspanels using the so-called IPS (in-planeswitching) technology are favored by ChineseTV makers. -ANN

Samsung,LG anxious about China LCD decision