COMBank shareholders approve IFC’s $ 50 m investment

Shareholders of Commercial Bank of Ceylon approved all resolutions with regards to the private placement of shares to International Finance Corporation (IFC), IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund LP and IFC Emerging Asia Fund LP at their EGM yesterday.

The key resolution was issue up to 125 million ordinary voting shares by way of a private placement to three IFC and two IFC funds at Rs. 80 each to raise $ 50 million (around Rs. 10 billion).

The issue is placed at a 20% premium on the Volume Weighted Average price per ordinary voting share for the 30 days preceding the date on which the Board resolution was adopted. Accordingly, the agreed price per share was Rs. 80, at a time when the average price of the share was Rs. 66.78. This is the first equity investment the IFC has agreed to anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic, and was seen as a vote of confidence in Commercial Bank as well as Sri Lanka. The IFC investment will also be the first post-pandemic foreign direct investment secured by Sri Lanka.