Singer Finance satisfies over 42% of applicants to its IPO despite record demand

Monday, 27 December 2010 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Singer Finance (Lanka) Ltd. said last week it has been able to satisfy over 42% of the applicants in the basis of allotment in spite of unprecedented 135% times oversubscription for its Initial Public Offering (IPO).

“The response by the public has been overwhelming and shows that people have faith in us and the SINGER brand. Further, through this basis of allotment the company has been able to fully satisfy over 42% of the total applicants in the IPO,” Singer Finance CEO Shantha Wijeweera said.

Darshan Perera, CEO of NDBIB stated: “The level of oversubscription is highly commendable and will be challenged in the coming months with the numerous IPOs in the pipeline. One of our biggest tasks was to give a fair allocation of shares to both the retailers and high net worth individuals, something we, together with the Board of Singer Finance are pleased to have accomplished,” said Darshan Perera, CEO of NDBIB, the Managers and Financial Advisors to the offering.

NDBIB also said the subscription of Singer Finance IPO by 135 times is a new record. The shares allocated to the public recorded an enormous oversubscription of 149.4 times whilst the allocation for Singer employees recorded an oversubscription of 3.3 times.

Singer Finance IPO has more than doubled the previous record for the highest oversubscription in an IPO at the Colombo Stock Exchange which was claimed by ODEL PLC for its oversubscription levels of 63.8 times.

The Singer Finance IPO offering 26,666,667 shares at Rs. 15 per share attracted 21,739 valid applications raising approximately Rs. 54 billion. The quantum of funds raised is believed to be only second to the IPO of Dialog Axiata Plc, another landmark transaction carried out by NDBIB in 2005, which raised approximately Rs. 56 billion.

The funds raised via this IPO will be utilised by the company to expand their lending portfolio and expand its branch network. The newest Singer Finance outlet was opened in Anuradhapura recently with many more outlets scheduled to be opened in the Northern and Eastern regions of the country.

The Board of Directors of Singer Finance comprises H. D. S. Amarasuriya (Non Executive Chairman), G. J. Walker, Dr. G. C. B. Wijeyesinghe, H. A. Pieris, Dr. S. Kelegama, M. P. A. Salgado, R. S. Wijeweera, S. Ramanathan (Alternate Director to Gavin J. Walker).

Considering the high level of enthusiasm towards the IPO from both retail investors and High Net worth Individuals, after much deliberation, the Board of Directors of Singer Finance has decided on the following basis of allotment of shares to the applicants under the public category.