Eastern Merchants PLC gained shareholder approval for the sale of the land and buildings owned by the Company at No. 284 Vauxhall Street, Colombo 02 and No. 341 Union Place, Colombo 02, (being one block in extent 134 perches) for a sum of Rs. 1,040,000,000. In the most recent valuation dated 6th April 2014, this property was valued Rs. 939,000,000.
It is proposed that the funds raised on the sale are to be invested to diversify the business of the Company from its traditional commodity trading into new business ventures focusing on value-addition. The Company also proposes to utilize a part of the sales proceeds to settle the outstanding debts of the company, which is considerably low.