Hilton Colombo is a Hilton brand five-star luxury hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The hotel is owned by Hotel Developers (Lanka) Ltd. The company was incorporated in 1983 and was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in the following year. The hotel was launched in 1987 and the 30th anniversary was celebrated in 2017 with an issuance of a stamp and a first day cover. However, the company is delisted from the stock exchange in 2020 and solely owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, therefore, runs as a state-owned enterprise.
History
The hotel is owned by Hotel Developers (Lanka) Ltd. and the company was incorporated in 1983.[1] The company was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1984. Since its commencement, the company has had a troublesome history. As the promoters of the hotel did not have the means to finance the construction of the hotel, the Government of Sri Lanka had to provide a guarantee of the payment of a yen-loan worth LKR1.3 billion. As a security for this guarantee, the majority of the shares was transferred to the government. The land on which the hotel was built was leased from the Land Commissioner General's Department, and due to the non-payment of the land lease, the land lease was cancelled and the land was reverted.[2]