Building sustainable enterprises

Emerald Sri Lanka provides equity financing to fast growing, small to medium sized (SME) Sri Lankan companies led by strong entrepreneurs and management teams.

The Sri Lankan Opportunity

Sri Lanka boasts great potential, with a skilled workforce in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), finance, and manufacturing driving growth. Favorable tax policies support SMEs and businesses in key sectors like ICT, export, tourism, construction, healthcare, agro processing and manufacturing sectors. Ongoing infrastructure improvements and its strategic location along major shipping routes, alongside projects like the Colombo Port City, are expected to boost investment in the years ahead.

Sri Lanka is witnessing a rise in IT and tech start-ups, leveraging low costs and a skilled workforce for accelerated growth. Government import controls create opportunities in local manufacturing like construction materials and food processing. Export-oriented policies are expected to benefit sectors like apparel and textiles. However, limited equity options exist pre-IPO due to small size and lack of governance procedures. Emerald Sri Lanka can capitalize on this gap by investing in promising companies, enhancing their growth, and exiting profitably.

Strategy

Emerald Fund seeks to invest in fast-growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka, that are led by promising entrepreneurs and strong management teams.

The Fund focuses on emerging businesses with significant scope for growth comprising of revenue growth and margin expansion.

The Fund's emphasis is on value addition subsequent to investment. Areas of value addition include strategic planning, governance, management development, financial management and operational efficiencies.

Target

Target sectors for the Fund include healthcare, financial services, value added exports, leisure/entertainment, IT, logistics/port related services, consumer goods, infrastructure and construction.

The Fund also targets export oriented sectors where Sri Lankan businesses enjoy natural competitive advantage due to factors such as access to raw materials, low operating-cost structure, attractive geographical location and highly experienced workforce.

The team sources potential deals via proprietary research, intermediaries and the team's networks.

Meet the team

Investment Thesis

NDB Zephyr Partners Limited (NDB Zephyr) launched Emerald Sri Lanka to tap into the rising demand for growth capital among the country’s unlisted small and medium-sized enterprises. Emerald Sri Lanka supports the expansion of enterprises while leveraging the country’s improving economic environment. NDB Zephyr’s investment philosophy involves active management participation in companies to augment strategy development and execution for generating superior returns via successful exits. Emerald Sri Lanka’s managers help companies enhance financial and organizational structures, improve business strategies, and implement professional governance practices. To NDB Zephyr’s knowledge, the Fund is the first Sri Lanka dedicated private equity fund.

The Partners

We are excited about our participation in the first institutional private equity fund in Sri Lanka. NDB’s strong reputation and experience in the Sri Lanka capital markets will provide the Fund’s investment team with much needed local experience, knowledge and relationships.

Thomas C. Barry

Chairman and Founder, Zephyr Management

NDB Capital is delighted to partner with Zephyr to support the development of the private capital ecosystem in Sri Lanka. Zephyr’s experience in investing in emerging markets and global networks are instrumental in the success of the Fund.

Senaka Kakiriwaragodage

CEO, NDB Capital Holdings

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