George Steuart Group of Companies (George Steuarts) is Sri Lanka's oldest

mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cred ...

establishment, having been established in 1835 during British occupation of Ceylon. It is the oldest surviving mercantile firm in the country, with a recorded history dating back to the early 19th century, and is the first on the register of companies in Sri Lanka Having begun operations as a merchant banker and then a produce broker, George Steuarts today includes businesses engaged in tea, exports, health, leisure, travel, real estate, telecommunications, shipping, insurance, solutions, recruitment and higher education.

History

The Company traces its origins to Captain James Steuart (1790-1870), a British sea captain, who sailed the southern seas in the early 1800s and settled in Ceylon in 1818. Seeing the commercial potential of the island, Captain Steuart set himself up as merchant and banker. Steuart was subsequently appointed "Master Attendant of the Roads of Colombo", a position which precluded him from continuing his commercial activities. As a result, he invited his younger brother George (1808-1896), to take over the business, which in 1835 resulted in the establishment of George Steuart and Company. In the late 1830s and early 1840s Ceylon became a major producer of

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and the company became a large scale exporter of the commodity. In 1863 John Lewis Gordon took over the company. From 1869 Ceylon's coffee industry was decimated by

coffee rust ''Hemileia vastatrix'' is a multicellular Basidiomycota, basidiomycete fungus of the order Pucciniales (previously also known as Uredinales) that causes coffee leaf rust (CLR), a disease affecting the Coffea, coffee plant. Coffee serves as t ...

that afflicted its plantations; George Steuart was amongst the pioneers that converted their export interests to

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

, supporting an

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

that would soon become synonymous with Ceylon. The descendants of the Steuart Brothers incorporated George Steuart & Co in 1954, building a high-rise office building "Steuart House" at 14 Queen Street,

Colombo fort Fort (Colombo) (Sinhala: ; Tamil: ) is the central business district of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is the financial district of Colombo and the location of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the World Trade Centre of Colombo from which the CSE ...

, which became the company headquarters. In 1975, the Sri Lankan government launched a nationalisation programme of privately held tea plantations; which led to the take-over of 90% of the group's holdings, the largest acreage of tea plantations at the time. As a result, the company proceeded on a path of diversification, expanding into textile production, automotive spare parts, gem exports, telecommunications and jewellery manufacturing, thereby reducing its exposure to any single industry. Over the next few decades, the Group expanded its footprint in several industries; as of 2014, major subsidiaries of George Steuarts included GS Health, GS Teas, GS Travel, GS Aviation, GS Finance, GS Solutions, GS Optimize, GS Insurance Brokers and GS Recruitment. In September 2011 Nimal Perera and

Dilith Jayaweera Dilith Susantha Jayaweera (born 18 September 1967) is a Sri Lankan businessman, entrepreneur, media mogul, lawyer and politician. He is the current Chairman of George Steuart Group of Companies, and the founder and CEO of TV Derana. He entered p ...

, through his investment company, Divasa Equity Ltd., acquired over 40% of George Steuarts, in a deal worth approximately Rs 1 billion. Divasa subsequently in October increased their stake in the company to a controlling 51% and Perera's holdings increased to 30%. A few months later, Nimal Perera exited George Steuarts, selling his stake to Jayaweera's Divasa Equity.

History

References

Further reading