The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited is the largest privately held group of companies in Sri Lanka. It comprises over 20 operating companies, divided broadly into nine spheres of activity:
- Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals
- Information Communication Technology (ICT)
- Media, Entertainment & Communication
- Personal Care & Consumer Products
- Plastics
- Projects
- Services
- Tea
In each of these spheres, the Group has one or more companies that, if not the market leader, are leaders in the field. Moreover, in many of these industry sectors the Group has either pioneered the business, or been the first in the private sector to embark upon that activity in Sri Lanka.
Today, the growth strategy of the Group is focused towards investment in the media and communication sector, the e-commerce and financial service sector while, continuing its investment in long established manufacturing operations to incorporate new technologies that will further widen the product base.
Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals
 The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited entered the field of chemicals fairly recently by acquiring an existing, leading chemical company. This was in keeping with the Group's strategy of focusing on core areas of industry. The core area in this case being the food chain.
Today, the Group leads in the formulation and marketing of fungicides, weedicides and pesticides for agricultural purposes as well as fertilisers and chemicals for industrial applications.
Apart from the group's own brands, it markets international brands under arrangement with leading chemical companies such as Bayer, Monsanto and Novartis. Currently, the Group is poised to enter the area of pharmaceuticals as well.
Information Communication Technology (ICT)
 The Group has been involved in this area for over 25 years. What started as an in-house facility has today become a leading solutions provider in the ICT field on the Island. It offers solutions based on a wide range of international software and hardware. Its partners include SAP, BPCS, Lotus, MYSIS, IBM, etc. as well as consulting from Satyam Computers and SSI.
In addition, the Group has entered into a joint venture with NIIT, India to establish centres to provide IT education and training in Sri Lankan and has six centres in major cities in the first phase of operation.
Finally, in a pioneering venture, the Group is involved in setting up Sri Lanka's first electronic data interchange to facilitate paperless customs declarations, soon to be made a mandatory requirement by the Government of Sri Lanka.
Media, Entertainment & Communication
 The Group owns and operates three free-to-air terrestrial television channels and four FM radio channels. The channels broadcast in each of the two national languages – Sinhala and Tamil and two in English. The prime English radio channel is the pioneer in formatted radio and radio promotions. All the channels command leadership positions in their markets and the Sinhala TV channel has the highest gross rating points of any channel in Sri Lanka. An all island DTH operation is now in the planning stage.
To support the television operations, the Group has independent production companies, specialising in the production of game shows, documentaries and sitcoms/soaps. These companies provide content to other stations as well.
The Group also has an audiovisual communications company that specialises in audiovisual presentations, event management, documentaries, advertising commercials as well as digital non-linear editing, post-production and graphics.
Finally, the Group has a company that that has introduced a revolutionary concept to Sri Lanka. Mobile buses outfitted with large screens and powerful sound systems take entertainment to remote areas. |
Personal Care & Consumer Products
The Group's companies in this sphere manufacture and market a wide range of personal care and feminine products. The Group's brands are market leaders in sanitary napkins, ladies' fragrances and men's colognes and after- shaves.
The Group also manufactures and distributes mosquito repellents and insecticides for household applications. As well as herbal remedies for cough relief. In addition, these companies are also sole agents/distributors for names such as Colgate-Palmolive, Wrigley's, TDK, Polaroid and Citizen.
Plastics
 The Group has two companies both of which are leaders in their areas of activity.
The first is the leading manufacturer of PVC pipes and fittings in Sri Lanka. Apart from being the pioneer in the field, it commands more than 55% of the market and its brand 'S-Lon' has become a virtual generic for PVC pipes. In addition, this company also manufactures plastic water tanks, electrical accessories such as switches and sockets as well as a host of household plastic products.
The second is the premier packaging company in Sri Lanka, with capabilities that extend from flexible packaging to the manufacture of PET bottles, paper cups and multilayer co-extrusions. Moreover, this company has won several national and international awards for innovation and process development.
The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited (Projects)
The Group is deeply involved with national infrastructural development projects. The first major project was the Prima Flour Mill, set up in 1978 at a total cost of US$ 50 million and, at that time, the largest flour mill of its type in the free world. Since then, the Group has been actively involved in numerous projects of national importance, ranging from the building of roads to dams - such as the Victoria Dam and Samanalawewa Project - and their downstream hydroelectric power stations.
The Group's present project portfolio is over US$ 5 billion. It works with an extensive list of principals for the supply of equipment and services to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Electricity Board, Railways, Water Supply Board, etc.
Currently, the Government of Sri Lanka has, through the BOI, given the Group the mandate to develop 500,000 acres in the Hambantota and Monaragala Districts. The project entails complete infrastructural development including a sea port, airport, road and rail links, desalination plants, a 200,000 BPSD petroleum refinery, a co-generation power plant, housing, etc. All the necessary government approvals, including special tax concessions have already been obtained. The total project cost is estimated at US$ 8 billion and is fully supported by EXIM Bank, USA for the export element and a consortium of European banks for the commercial element.
Services
 Among the Group companies in this sphere of activity is a beauty clinic, a shipping and freight forwarding company, an airline cargo GSA agency (NorthWest Airlines–Cargo) a travel agency and a manufacturer of quality furniture. In addition, a helicopter charter service is about to be launched.
Tea
 The Group has been deeply involved in the packaging and marketing of tea since 1964.
Currently, its two tea companies account for a large share of Sri Lanka's tea exports. The companies' products are shipped in bulk (for packing overseas) and in packets or as tea-bags to virtually all the major tea importing countries.
In addition, these companies also market tea, under their own brand names, in Sri Lanka and overseas. |
