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.
