Bank of Ceylon said in a stock exchange filing that it bought 13 million Seylan shares at 35 rupees a share, amounting to an investment of 455 million rupees, under Central Bank directions.

It was part of an effort by Seylan Bank to raise fresh capital to recapitalize the bank and meet statutory capital adequacy and liquidity requirements through public and private issues.

In the private placement with two state-run financial institutions the bank is raising 678 million rupees by issuing 19.38 million shares at 35 rupees a share.

Apart from Bank of Ceylon, the state-run Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation has been allotted 6.38 million shares for a total of 223.4 million rupees.

In the public offer Seylan Bank has so far raised over 1.2 billion rupees.

Seylan Bank was brought under the supervision of the banking regulator after it faced a run following the collapse of an unlisted Ceylinco group firm last year.

The central bank appointed a new board to Seylan Bank.

A previous attempt to get private sector investment in Seylan Bank failed.