John Keells Corporate John Keells Holdings Limited (JKH, the company or the Group) is the leading conglomerate in Sri Lanka, with diversified businesses in hotels, processed food & beverages, retail, transportation services, financial services and information technology sectors, and has full or majority stakes in over 70 companies across the various sectors.  Established in the early 1870s, the company has over the years become a leading player in the Sri Lankan economy.  It is undertaking a $200 million investment program over a three year period (FY06-08) comprised of various investments in hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and the Region and investments in the transportation and real estate sectors in Sri Lanka. The proposed corporate investment program will help JKH to expand its current operations in various key sectors in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and the Region.  The facility, among other things, will help JKH to refurbish its existing hotels and resorts, as well as to acquire new hotels and resorts in the Maldives, India and the Region thereby contributing to the improvement of business and tourism infrastructure in the region.  The expansion of resorts and hotels will, in turn support local employment, trade and business development.    JKH has recently increased its stake in SAGT, which is one of the top 30 private container ports in the world and the leading trans-shipment port in the South Asia region.  SAGT is also the first port in the region to comply with the US Customs Security Initiative, which will allow faster customs clearance of goods to the US, providing a considerable comparative advantage to the regional export companies.  The recently signed Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement, is also expected to increase the demand for SAGT port facilities, and hence, facilitating regional trade between India and Sri Lanka.    The facility will support cross-border equity flows from Sri Lanka to India, Maldives and the Region which will encourage cross border cooperation and integration.  The success of JKHs investments in the Region is also expected to attract other leading companies in Sri Lanka to consider investments in other countries in the South Asia region.  At present, the Group provides employment to 9300 employees, which will increase to about 12,000, including about 2,000 in the potential Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) investment in India.  The Group has a specialized Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) unit, which works on developing linkage programs with small businesses.  It has ongoing linkage projects with:   - 200 ginger farmers in Kandy region from where it sources ginger for its carbonated beverages;  - an NGO in Sri Lanka, which supports 900 people including 160 farmers, from which the Group sources ingredients for ice-cream;  - three specialized SME greenhouses, where about 200 small farmers are employed, for sourcing fruits & vegetables for its hotel operations; - over 13,500 small tea farmers;  and - small business service providers related to its hotels & resorts businesses.  These various linkage programs will provide a sustainable source of income and livelihood to the local community.  Once its planned investments in the leisure sector in India go through, JKH also plans to set up similar linkage programs with suppliers in India as well.