Mahinda Haradasa is the Precedent Partner at Varners. He was called to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1977 and has over 40 years' of experience in advising clients on corporate commercial and intellectual property matters. He is renowned in corporate circles for his foresight and ability to devise practical solutions, based on commercial and strategic considerations, which have stood the test of time.

Current Practice

Mahinda has a well-established track record in advising on various corporate commercial transactions involving foreign investment, investment structuring, corporate due diligences, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, and intellectual property.

He has been actively involved in advising the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan private sector on the conversion of state-owned enterprises and undertakings into public companies and public private partnerships. This being with the objective of broad basing the ownership of such entities, making them efficient and profitable in the long run, and creating a positive impact and contributing to the growth of the Sri Lankan economy.

Other Relevant Experience

Following the liberalisation of the economy of Sri Lanka in 1977, Mahinda was involved with and assisted in the very first build, own, operate, and transfer ("BOOT") and build, own, operate ("BOO") projects undertaken in Sri Lanka. He is a considered authority in the successful implementation of public private partnership projects in Sri Lanka, and has advised clients in respect of the largest such projects to be undertaken in Sri Lanka.

He has also advised and assisted in relation to land reclamation projects in the past. Mahinda has on many occasions acted as adviser to numerous national level projects, and also handles the legal affairs of the Sri Lankan arm of a major blue-chip conglomerate based in Singapore. In the recent past Mahinda was retained by an international consortium to advise on the operation of a container terminal at the Port of Colombo under a public private partnership arrangement.

Notable Appointments

Mahinda was a Member of the Advisory Commission constituted under the Companies Act No 17 of 1982; a Council Member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, and was the government nominated director of several major state-owned entities.