Category: Banking and Finance

Apr 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon has sold a 500 million dollar 5-year bond to yield 6. 875 percent a year with the investors oversubscribing the issue 7.7 times, sources familiar with the matter said. Books were initially opened with a price guidance of 7. 1 percent but the price […]

Apr 27, 2012 (LBO) – A successful 500 million US dollar bond sale by state-run Bank of Ceylon showed investor confidence and broadened access to international capital, chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe said. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and HSBC managed the bond. It was rated ‘B1’ by Moody’s and ‘BB-‘ by Fitch. The bond issuance […]

April 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank March 2012 quarter net profit rose 69.3 percent from a year earlier to 644,047 million rupees, helped by less provisioning, accounts showed Friday. Group income grew 13.7 percent to 4.5 billion rupees for the March quarter over the corresponding period 2011. Net interest income grew at […]

April 26, 2012 (LBO) — Fitch Ratings Lanka on Thursday affirmed Multi Finance PLC’s national long-term rating at ‘B+(lka)’ with a stable outlook. The agency has also affirmed and withdrawn the ‘B(lka)’ rating on Multi Finances proposed subordinated debenture issue of up to 100 million rupees, as the issue did not proceed as previously envisaged. […]

Apr 24, 2012 (LBO) – Two shareholders of Sri Lanka’s listed Nations Trust Bank have asked for more time to sell down their stakes to comply with a regulatory requirement, the firm said. Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings holds 29.9 percent of the company and Central Finance hold 20 percent of the company. Sri […]

Apr 24, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state workers rose 1. 1 percent to 1.232 million after falling 7.2 percent a year earlier, with central and local government employees climbing 16,812 to 986,386 though state agency workers fell, official data showed. Analysts say trimming the public sector and paying better wages would reduce the burden […]

Apr 23, 2012 (LBO) – Mohan Pieris, a former attorney general of Sri Lanka has been appointed chairman of Seylan Bank, a listed bank which was put under a state management following a run. Seylan Bank said he has 37 years of experience as lawyer. In 1978 he qualified as a solicitor of the supreme […]

April 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s biggest lender, state-owned Bank of Ceylon, has reported a sharp increase in the profits of its two overseas branches in neighbouring south India and the Maldives last year. Bank of Ceylon group after tax profit in 2011 was 11. 5 billion rupees, up 66 percent from 2010. Deposits […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Vajira Kulatilaka, head of investment banking at Sri Lanka’s NDB group has been given an award by the Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA), the bank said. NDB said Kulatilaka has led teams that completed breaking deals, which propelled NDB Investment Bank to a top position and he also […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Commercial Bank said Sri Lankans planning to celebrate the traditional new year last week had withdrawn a record amount of cash from its automated teller machines. Its ATMs dispensed 7.6 billion rupees in the week preceding the new year on April 14 with an all-time single-day high of 1.6 billion […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Vajira Kulatilaka, chief executive of NDB Group Investment Banking Cluster, was recently awarded the Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award for business and professional achievements. He is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK (FCMA) and a CFA Charter holder. “He was awarded […]

Apr 18, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has been given a ‘B1’ rating by Moody’s Investors services ahead of planned bond sale in international capital markets with a ‘stable’ outlook. The agency rated the bank’s local currency deposits ‘B1/NP’, foreign currency deposits: ‘B2/NP’ and foreign currency senior unsecured debt ‘B1’. […]