Apr 17, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned Bank of Ceylon has hired several foreign banks to arrange bond investor meetings in Asia, Europe and the US ahead of a planned new bond issue. It has hired Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings to arrange bond investor meetings, Bloomberg news agency has reported.
Bank of Ceylon has earlier said that it was planning a 500 million US dollar bond issue.
Sri Lanka is considering issuing more sovereign bonds this year and has said a 10-year bond is being considered when its debut 500 million five-year dollar bond matures.
Treasury secretary P B Jayasundera has said the treasury is also looking at issuing a bigger bond worth 750 million or even one billion dollars.
The debut bond was meant to help the private and banks go for longer maturity funding, he has said.