Bank of Ceylon achieves another first

• Becomes first state bank to issue Basel III compliant listed debenture to raise Rs. 10 b; issue opens tomorrow

The Bank of Ceylon (BOC), has become the first state sector bank to issue a Basel III Compliant, Tier 2 Listed, Rated, Unsecured, Subordinated Redeemable Debenture with a Non-viability Conversion feature. The debentures are rated BBB+ (lka) by Fitch Ratings.

BOC will aim to raise Rs. 10 billion via the debenture issue, official opening of which tomorrow.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has approved in principle the listing of the debenture. BOC will issue 50 million debentures at Rs. 100 each with an option to issue a further equal amount in case of an over subscription.

The debenture issue is for a period of five years and comes in two types. Type A carries a fixed interest rate of 15% payable annually and Type B carries a floating interest rate of 12 months T-Bill Rate + 1.00%.

The minimum subscription per application for an individual Qualified Investor is set at Rs. 5 million, and the minimum subscription per application for other Qualified Investors is Rs. 10,000. (CSE listing rules are applicable to qualified investors only). More details of the Debenture Issue is available on the banks website, www.boc.lk and on www.cse.lk and with trading members of CSE.

BOC concluded the third quarter of 2023 on a positive note, demonstrating resilience in a challenging economic environment. The Bank’s PBT stood at Rs. 22.6 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2023. BOC said it stands tall in the Banking industry and is the only Sri Lankan bank to be among the top 1000 banks in the world ranked by the renowned international business intelligence magazine ‘The Banker – UK’.