Yala is God’s Patch of Land for Leopards Says World Renowned Wildlife Celebrities Jonathan & Angelina Scott of Sri Lanka's Yala National Park

21st July 2011, www.ft.lk

“If ever God created a patch of land for the leopards in this world, it must be Yala National Park in Sri Lanka” said the world renowned wild life celebrities Jonathan and Angelina Scott addressing the audience at a special event held to present their work on leopards at Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel on 09th July. Expressing their views on this Jonathan and Angie Scott further said that “In other wild life parks around the world, leopards are under the threat from predators like Lions and hyenas. But in Sri Lanka they don’t face such situation, they are free to move about and more secured in the wild than other leopards in the world “.

Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park is recognized of having one of the highest densities of leopard population in the world and this comment made by Jonathan and Angelina is certainly going to compliment this position held by the national park.

The two celebrities were touring in Sri Lanka for the first time and spent twelve days experience the Local culture, rich history and heritage of Sri Lanka and studying the Leopards of Sri Lanka at the Yala National park. Lead by the Head of Wild Life Tourism for John Keells Hotels Chitral Jayatilake and the Nature Trails team, Jonathan and Angela were able to make seventeen sightings of leopards in Yala and captured tremendous images of their behavior in the wild, which is said to be one of the best collection of leopard photographs ever taken in their natural environment. These photographs will no doubt showcase the most sought after animal of Sri Lanka in the wild as one of Sri Lanka’s tourism icons to the world.

Jonathan and Angie Scott live in Kenya in Africa and spend much of their time in the company of African wildlife. Their wildlife photography, wildlife pencil drawings, and wildlife books have won awards and recognition for their work throughout the world.

Big cats have been the focus of much of Jonathan and Angie’s work and the basis for a number of books including three titles accompanying the hugely popular BBC television series Big Cat Diary or Big Cat Week that Jonathan co-presents.

Angie takes the production stills for the series and is a game spotter.

John Keells Hotels together with Nations Trust Bank and American Express have organized the special event held for Jonathan & Angie Scott to present their work at Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo and share with the audience their latest film, shot in Africa about the secret leopard.

Related Info :

• Two More zones Open at Yala National Park, the Second Largest in Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka to Permit Eco Friendly Hotels in Buffer Zones of Nature Reserves to Cater to Increased Local & International Interest

• National Parks to be developed in Sri Lanka

• Newsweek Highlights Sri Lanka as a Luxury Tourist Destination for a Much Varied Holiday

Leopard Goes Hunting for Hidden Gems in Sri Lanka, Undervalued Companies to Get Investment from Leopard Sri Lanka, a part of Leopard Capital (Asia)

19th November 2009, www.lankabusinessonline.com

A private equity group which is launching a 10-year closed-end fund in Sri Lanka said it will also start a listed stock vehicle with a shorter term horizon to invest in undervalued companies.

Leopard Sri Lanka, a part of Leopard Capital (Asia) which runs a 30 million US dollar private equity fund in Cambodia said it is targeting the Leopard Sri Lanka Value Fund for investors with a two year horizon.

The main Leopard Sri Lanka private equity fund will run for 10 years, with redemptions allowed only after 5-years.

Leopard Sri Lanka chairman Ranjith Fernando says there are smaller companies in the stock market or "hidden gems" which are trading at a discount to market.

Foreign investors usually invest in large liquid firms which are among the largest capitalized firms in the Colombo Stock Exchange, whose shares are liquid and easy to exit.

The Leopard listed equity firm will permit redemptions after two years.

"It is not a fund to track the index or buy the blue chips, our strategy is to find overlooked companies which our colleagues will research and unlock their value," says Douglas Clayton, who founded Leopard Capital Asia in 2007.

Leopard Sri Lanka has as managing partners Nirosh de Silva and G Ramanan, two Sri Lanka based with long year's of experience in the island's capital markets. De Silva had founded Orion Capital, a Colombo based investment firm.

The Leopard Sri Lanka Value Fund would be registered in the Cayman Islands.

Leopard in Sri Lanka With a US$ 100Mn Fund

13th November 2009, www.dailymirror.lk, By Sunimalee Dias

A new private equity fund will be launched next week in a bid to attract foreign investors in order to generate foreign investment for local non-listed companies initially, according to the Fund Chairman.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror FT, Leopard Sri Lanka Fund Chairman Ranjith Fernando pointed out that the private equity fund would be set up to raise US$ 100 million investment in private non-listed companies.

The purpose behind the launch is to attract foreign investors in order to raise capital for local firms that intend to expand operations. The fund is expected to commence raising capital in January.

Fernando noted that this risk capital would be used as an investment to go into long-term equity position.

The Chairman of United Motors, Fernando sits on the boards of many corporate establishments in Sri Lanka including Commercial Bank and Piramal Glass. During his tenure at NDB, he played a pivotal role in developing the venture capital industry in Sri Lanka by promoting NDB Ventures and later promoting Ayojana. Fernando brings a wealth of commercial and investment experience to the Leopard team.

Leopard Sri Lanka will focus on building a diversified portfolio of leading businesses in key sectors such as tourism, retailing, food processing, infrastructure, financial services and property development.

The company will also partner with experienced foreign operators and/or local groups; assist portfolio companies with corporate governance, business strategy, introductions and recruitment; and exit investments via stock market listings or sales to investment partners, strategic investors or other investment funds.

Leopard Capital is the partner that raised US$ 130 million in Cambodia and is confident of raising US$ 100 million in Sri Lanka.

The limited partnership is on a 50-50 joint venture between Orion and Leopard Capital, with the latter taking on the lead role in raising capital while the former would be involved in carrying out local operations in carrying out deals.

At the upcoming investor forum scheduled to be held on November 20, around 20 investors will arrive in Colombo and Sri Lanka will showcase its potential in sectors such as tourism, infrastructure and agriculture value-added products during the two day programme.

Managing Partner Nirosh De Silva said that the challenge would be “to get the money that we can utilise and not just build a dream and also check out on how to enter the IT field.”