SK Group, third largest conglomerate (Chaebol) in South Korea, has expressed interest to set up an LNG project to be established on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) in Sri Lanka for supplying LNG at a total cost of USD 600 million.
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Korea, Dr. A. Saj U. Mendis said that he met with the topmost management of SK Group, to discuss investment and FDI with regard to Sri Lanka.
In this context, Dr. Mendis met with the President and CEO of SK E&S Co. Ltd., Jeong Joon Yu as well as the members of the Board of Directors at the Corporate Head Office of SK Group in Seoul, recently.
The SK Group is one of the largest corporates in the world in terms of revenue and market capitalization. In 2019, the revenue of the SK Group was USD 220 billion and the market cap was close to USD 280 billion, thus making the SK Group amongst the 25 largest corporates in the world. The company has 95 subsidiary companies and employs over 70,000 across the world. The discussion with the CEO and Board of Directors of SK E&S focused on, among others, to set up a LNG project.
“The proposed project would be able to supply LNG to 930 MW power plants in Sri Lanka,” said Ambassador Dr. Mendis.
Further, the proposed mega project would create semi-skilled and skilled employment to nearly a 1,000 Sri Lankan nationals.
The aforementioned project has been discussed and deliberated with the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka and is waiting due approvals.
The CEO and Board of Directors of SK E&S had further told Dr. Mendis that the SK Group is keen and eager to commit more investments in Sri Lanka, particularly, in sectors such as IT & ITES, construction and telecommunication among others.
Ambassador Dr. Mendis stated that a strong and convincing presence of a corporate in the caliber of SK Group in Sri Lanka would emanate a positive sentiment and message to the international corporates and investors of the potentiality of Sri Lanka.
Any equity market having a P/E ratio of less than 15 with a vibrant and diversified economy would be highly desirable and financially sanguine for any large scale institutional investor, particularly, foreign investors and private equity (PE) firms.
The top most management of SK E&S paid due heed to the economic and investment vistas of Sri Lanka and added that they would look at Sri Lanka positively and favorably.
Add new comment