Kulappu Arachchige Don Dhammika Perera, commonly known as Dhammika Perera (born December 28, 1967), is a Sri Lankan billionaire businessman and politician. A top

corporate raider A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

, he is one of the wealthiest people in Sri Lanka, controlling 23 listed companies on the Colombo Stocke Exchange. Perera owns a controlling stake in the conglomerates Hayleys and

Vallibel One Vallibel One PLC is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate companies. The company controls a chain of subsidiaries and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 2011. The company has controlling stakes in LB Finance, Royal Ceramics Lanka, an ...

, a company he founded. Through Hayleys, Perera controls Amaya Leisure, The Kingsbury and Singer (Sri Lanka) while Royal Ceramics, LB Finance, and Lanka Tiles are controlled by Vallibel One. Perera has been closely linked to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, having served as chairman of the

Board of Investment of Sri Lanka The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BoI) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලය ''Shri Lanka Ayojana Mandalaya'') is the investment promotion agency of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍ර� ...

from 2007 to 2010 and

Transport Secretary The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...

from 2011 to 2015. He was appointed a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

in the National List in June 2022, succeeding Basil Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, briefly serving President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as his Minister of Investment Promotion from June to July 2022.

Early life and education

Dhammika Perera was born in 1967 in Payagala in the Kalutara District. His father was a grocery businessman and his mother was a schoolteacher. He had two brothers and a sister. He completed his primary and secondary education at the Taxila Central College, Horana and started on the NDT program at the

Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa The Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa ( si, තාක්ෂණික ආයතනය, මොරටුව විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, தொழில்நுட்பவியல் நிறுவனம், ம� ...

. Dropping out, he began a business venture in 1986 at the age of 19.

Business career

Early business ventures in manufacturing and gambling

As a teenager, Dhammika Perera started putting money into a street hawker who ran a business in front of his uncle's café. He then rented

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine ( Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively ...

, installing them in his uncle's café. In 1987, dropping out of the NDT program, Perera went to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

for three months of technical training. On his return to Sri Lanka, he started a machine manufacturing business making slot machines close to his residence in Payagala and continued until 1991, when President Ranasinghe Premadasa imposed a ban on jackpot/slot machines. Following the ban he moved into car sales in Paiyagala, before moving into the gambling business by starting his first

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

in 1993, which is now owned and managed by his two brothers. He also ran Tito Electronics, an electronic shop repairing electronic circuit boards in

Colpetty Kollupitiya, also known as Colpetty is a major neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The name Kollupitiya comes from the name of a chief from Kandy who had unsuccessfully attempted to dethrone the last king of Kandy. During the period of British ...

. He started a business producing and selling neon bulbs in 1995, at a time when none of the manufacturers was keen on selling those bulbs.

Corporate raider

In 1999, his business career took a new direction after he met Nadeem ul Haque, then senior resident representative of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

in Sri Lanka, who became his mentor. Ul Haque organized a seminar for him on infrastructure and business development at

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...

in Germany, where he learnt the use of mathematical modelling in business acquisitions and aspects of risk and cash-flow management. With Ul Haque he drew up a 20-year plan, targeting 12 sectors.

Banking and finance

He acquired a

majority stake A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

Pan Asia Bank Pan Asia Banking Corporation is a public limited company incorporated in Sri Lanka. The Company currently has 85 branches across Sri Lanka.A Public Limited Liability Company incorporated in Sri Lanka on 6 March 1995 under the Companies Act No.17 ...

in 2000, at a time when the bank was regarded as a loss-making financial institution. He met investor Nimal Perera after acquiring the Pan Asia Bank stake, who become his close business partner until the duo parted ways in 2017. In 2003, his holding company Vallibel Holdings tookover

LB Finance L B Finance PLC sometimes spelt LB Finance, is a Sri Lankan non-bank financial institution. The company is incorporated in 1971 and initially, the majority of shares were held by Lewis Brown & Company. The company was listed on the Colombo Stock E ...

. He acquired the family-owned The Rupee Finance Company Limited in 2005, which was later rebranded as Vallibel Finance and took it to an initial public offering in 2010. He has been the executive director of Vallibel Finance since 2014.

Manufacturing, trading and leisure

In 2002, Dhammika Perera, through his Vallibel Holdings, bought controlling stakes in four companies in the stock market, having made short-term transactions during the bull run. In 2003, he took over Royal Ceramics having become the major shareholder and buying out minority shareholders. That year he gained a 56.07% stake of Ruhunu Hotels and Travels Limited which owned Club Horizon Hotel, Koggala which was later renamed as The Fortress Resort & Spa. In 2008, Perera acquired a controlling stake in Hayleys PLC, the Sri Lankan conglomerate founded in 1878. In 2010, Perera's

took over the Delmege Group, which had been founded in 1850. By 2013, Dhammika Perera and Nimal Perera had taken over majority control over Hayleys, becoming its co-chairman. With Hayleys, Perera gained control over several subsidiaries owned by Hayleys, including Amaya Leisure, Haycarb, Hayleys Fabric PLC,

The Kingsbury The Kingsbury, trading as The Kingsbury PLC, formerly the Ceylon Continental Hotel Colombo and the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel, is a nine-story hotel located at 48, Janadhipathi Mawatha in the city centre of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was built ...

and Dipped Products. In 2013, Vallibel One-owned Royal Ceramics took over Lanka Ceramics PLC, and with it came Swisstek. In 2013, Perera became Sri Lanka's wealthiest individual, with a net worth estimated by ''

Forbes Asia ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...

'' at 72.6 billion LKR (approx. 550 million US dollars). Inspection of the Power House Location by Chairman

Perera became the chairman of Lanka Tiles in 2017 and was appointed as the co-chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) in October 2017 after Hayleys agreed to buy Singer. Perera was appointed as the chairman of Director Board of Lanka Ceramic PLC in 2017, but he resigned from the position on 31 August 2018. He was also appointed as chairman of Board of Directors of Lanka Walltiles in 2017.

Gambling

Perera continued to own three of the five casinos in Colombo, namely Bally's Colombo, Bellagio Colombo and The Ritz Club. In 2014, Dhammika Perera planned to start a joint venture project with Australian gambling tycoon James Packer's Crown Casino of a value more than US$300 million, but the project was rejected by the newly elected United National Front Government.

Importation of clinical waste

In July 2019, Perera and his company Hayleys were accused by MP Kanaka Herath of earning income through the illegal import of garbage from the United Kingdom. Hayleys has since denied any wrongdoing in the matter and highlighted the fact that the Group's logistics arm was merely providing logistics services including storage, value addition and re-exportation for its client Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation for a resource recovery operation. Calling for a press conference on 22 July 2019, the managing director of Hayleys Advantis Limited, Ruwan Waidyaratne, categorically denied the allegations levelled against the company. Concerning 130 container loads of used mattresses that were stored at their Free Zone yard premises, the company clarified that the mattresses were imported by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Limited, the actual owner of the cargo.

Political career

Board of Investment of Sri Lanka

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed Perera as chairman of the

(BoI) in April 2007, he served till May 2010. During his tenure, Perera came under fire for changing the approval process for new investment projects in Sri Lanka, by reducing the role of the BoI in gaining approvals from other institutions on behalf of the investor and for not carrying out proper checks before providing its own approval.

Transport Secretary

During Rajapaksa's second term, he appointed Perera

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

to the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

in January 2011, making little headway until he resigned in January 2015 following the Rajapaksa's defeat in the

2015 Sri Lankan presidential election Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule. The incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate, seeking a third term in office. The United National Par ...

Sri Lanka 2030: A Developed Nation

In January 2019, he stated that he was willing to take the post of

Treasury Secretary The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

to the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

if invited to do so. In September 2019, Perera published a document ''Sri Lanka 2030: A Developed Nation'', with policy recommendations for 21 ministries with the aim of increasing Sri Lanka's

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

to $12,000 by 2030. Following is the list of recommendations given for individual ministries: # Ministry of National Security: A nation rich in safety and freedom # Ministry of Finance and Planning: A nation rich in wealth # Ministry of Education: A nation rich in human capital # Ministry of Higher Education: A nation rich in human capital # Ministry of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET): A nation rich in human capital # Ministry of Social Development: A nation rich in happiness # Ministry of Regional Development: A nation rich in convenience # Ministry of Justice and Prison Reforms: A nation rich in discipline # Ministry of Agriculture and agro-based industry: A nation rich in prosperity # Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources: A nation rich in biomes # Ministry of Health: A nation rich in wellbeing # Ministry of Investment Promotion and Job Creation: A nation rich in industries # Ministry of Foreign Affairs: A nation rich in diplomacy # Ministry of Information and Communication Technology: A nation rich in technology # Ministry of Transport: A nation rich in mobility # Ministry of Ports and Shipping: A nation rich in maritime logistics # Ministry of Tourism: A nation rich in hospitality # Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony: A nation rich in unity # Ministry of Arts and Culture: A nation rich in heritage # Ministry of Fisheries: A nation rich in fish trade # Ministry of Civil Aviation: A nation rich in connectivity

Dhammika and Priscilla Perera Foundation

In October 2019, Perera and his wife Priscilla founded a private charity, Dhammika and Priscilla Perera Foundation (DP Foundation) with the aim of improving education and healthcare standards in Sri Lanka. The foundation is organized into two impact areas: education and healthcare.

DP Education

In 2019, Perera launched DP Education on YouTube providing online learning for school going children in Sri Lanka. Perera created 120 DP Education IT Campuses across Sri Lanka to deliver quality IT Education for the students. In 2024, he launched "DP Silicon Valley IT Office" intending to create coders to improve the digital economy.

Member of Parliament

During the Sri Lankan economic crisis, in May 2022, he outlined 12 strategies that aimed to generate an additional inflow of US$8 billion per annum. Following the resignation of former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, there was speculation that Dhammika Perera was tipped to succeed him from the ruling party to fill the now vacant seat in parliament. As per the CSE filing, on 10 June 2022, Perera resigned from the boards of directors of Hayleys PLC, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, Hayleys Fabric PLC, Hayleys Leisure PLC, Haycarb PLC, and The Kingsbury PLC. Hayleys and subsidiaries separately announced his resignation from the board of directors. Companies which announced the move on 10 June 2022 included Hayleys PLC and its subsidiaries, Vallibel One PLC and its subsidiaries, Singer Sri Lanka PLC and its subsidiaries, Royal Ceramics Group, Lanka Walltiles Group and LB Finance PLC. In most of these entities, he was either the chairman or executive director. On June 22 2022, Perera was sworn in as a

National list member of Parliament A national list member of parliament (national list MP) is a nominated member of parliament who is appointed by a political party or an independent group to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The number of national list MPs allocated to a contesting par ...

, after being proposed to the Election Commission by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, having taken up party membership to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Minister of Investment Promotion

On June 24, he was sworn in as the Minister of Investment Promotion. Days later on 10 July, he resigned from his ministerial position.

Presidential candidate

In October 2023, Perera stated his intent to become a presidential candidate for the next presidential election if political parties including the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna can provide assurances that it could gain a 51% majority in the election. He stated that 1.5 million students from 1.1 million families are benefiting from the D.P. Education initiative commenced by him.

References

External links

DP Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perera, Dhammika 1967 births Living people Sri Lankan chairpersons of corporations Sri Lankan philanthropists Alumni of the Institute of Technology, Moratuwa People from Kalutara Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna politicians