Block holder Ownership Structure of Sri Lankan Listed Companies

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify the blockholder ownership structure (BHO) of Sri Lankan listed companies. The study assessed 135 companies from 19 sectors during a five year period from 2007 to 2013. The analysis focuses on two key statistics of BHO structure; the mean percentage of BHO and the mean percentage of blockholders in each sample period. The results reveal that 0.5% of blockholders control 73% of equity while 0.3% of blockholders control the same percentage in 2013. Majority of the blockholders are institutions and they hold nearly 63% of equity shares with directors of the companies holding 6% of the equity shares and individual blockholders holding around 3% equity. State blockholder hold only 0.55% of shares. The study lends support to identify the reasons for market manipulation and corporate failures.