Bank of Ceylon considers $500m, 10-yr bond issue
Friday, 6 January 2012
COLOMBO, Jan 5 (Reuters): Sri Lanka's state-owned Bank of Ceylon is considering a $500 million bond issue with a likely tenure of 10 years and expects to go the market in the middle of this year to meet the bank's increasing dollar lending demand, the head of the bank said Thursday.
"We are considering a $500 million bond issue, but there is a long way to go," the bank's Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe told the news agency.
Bank of Ceylon is the largest state bank in the island nation and its total assets were worth 714.9 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($6.3 billion) at the end of 2010, the latest available data showed.
"We are looking at more than five years, maybe 10 years and we may go towards the mid of the year," Wickramasinghe said.
"(The) tourism sector is improving and a lot of (companies) ... need dollar borrowing. There are quite a few other projects (which) have come to the bank and we are looking for dollars ... for local purposes."
Sri Lanka's central bank has long requested private and public corporates go for cheap foreign borrowing, since the island nation issued a debut $500 million, five-year sovereign bond in 2007.
Since then, the $59 billion economy has sold a $500 million, five-year eurobond in 2009, and two $1 billion, 10-year euro bonds with sovereign guarantees in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The central bank last month relaxed its tight regulations on foreign borrowings by local firms to encourage more foreign inflows as it is under balance of payment pressure.
Bank of Ceylon last month raised a $140 million loan from a syndicate of banks led by Dubai lender Mashreq.
"We are considering a $500 million bond issue, but there is a long way to go," the bank's Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe told the news agency.
Bank of Ceylon is the largest state bank in the island nation and its total assets were worth 714.9 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($6.3 billion) at the end of 2010, the latest available data showed.
"We are looking at more than five years, maybe 10 years and we may go towards the mid of the year," Wickramasinghe said.
"(The) tourism sector is improving and a lot of (companies) ... need dollar borrowing. There are quite a few other projects (which) have come to the bank and we are looking for dollars ... for local purposes."
Sri Lanka's central bank has long requested private and public corporates go for cheap foreign borrowing, since the island nation issued a debut $500 million, five-year sovereign bond in 2007.
Since then, the $59 billion economy has sold a $500 million, five-year eurobond in 2009, and two $1 billion, 10-year euro bonds with sovereign guarantees in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The central bank last month relaxed its tight regulations on foreign borrowings by local firms to encourage more foreign inflows as it is under balance of payment pressure.
Bank of Ceylon last month raised a $140 million loan from a syndicate of banks led by Dubai lender Mashreq.