Acuity Partners and HNB host seminar on capital raising opportunities for SMEs

Friday, 8 June 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Leading investment banking services provider, Acuity Partners Ltd. joined together with Sri Lanka’s most enterprise-oriented bank, HNB PLC, to host a special workshop for a select group of the bank’s best small and medium enterprise (SME) customers on capital raising opportunities for business growth.

“The SME sector remains one of the country’s most vibrant sectors that continue to serve as a vital source of employment and economic growth at the grassroots of the Sri Lankan economy. While the process of listing an SME business will take some effort, we are confident that many of our best customers will derive unprecedented value from this approach. Our hope with today’s workshop is that we can encourage some of these businesses to take this first step in order to gain easy access to capital, enhanced visibility and efficient risk distribution, all of which can be leveraged towards sustainable but aggressive growth,” SME DGM Jude Fernando stated.

Meanwhile, Acuity Partners Managing Director Ray Abeywardena articulated Acuity’s strong credentials in equity raisings in the past and presented successful case studies where Acuity had assisted firms in mergers and acquisitions, listings and private equity funding.

The value of the seminar for HNB’s SME clients was further enhanced by the participation of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike who elaborated on the requirements for the Main/Diri Savi boards and the opportunity of listings on the proposed SME/Dollar boards.

Maintaining an island-wide presence across 251 customer centres, HNB also offers some of Sri Lanka’s most innovative internet and mobile banking services in the country that are designed to usher in a new technology-enabled banking paradigm.

HNB is a pioneer of SME financing in Sri Lanka. Throughout their journey, which began far away from the commercial capital of the country, they have partnered a countless number of SME’s in their path to prosperity and have seen many of them graduate to corporate customer status.

These pioneering efforts to serve the Micro and SME sector also continue to win international recognition and set new benchmarks across the Sri Lankan banking industry, with HNB winning the award for Best Microfinance Product in Asia Pacific by the Asian Banker, and winning Best Bank for SME at the Asiamoney Awards 2018.

Similarly, HNB also continues to win local and global acclaim for its numerous achievements in raising the standard of Sri Lanka’s banking industry, including Bank of the Year in Sri Lanka for 2017 by The Banker Magazine UK, and a further 10 awards for Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka by the Asian Banker Magazine.