Eight banks vie to lead Sri Lankan euro bond: CB

Reuters: Eight banks have expressed interest to lead manage a Sri Lankan sovereign bond later this year, the Central Bank Governor said on Tuesday, signalling plans to raise between $ 500 million-$ 1 billion this year are on track.

The country’s fifth euro bond since it started to tap the international debt markets in 2007 will be used to roll over its debut $ 500 million bond maturing in October this year, according to previous comments from the Finance Ministry and Central Bank.



“Eight banks have expressed interest in becoming lead managers, including the four banks that handled the last year (sovereign) bond,” Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters, declining to comment further on the timing of amount of the bond issue.

Last year, HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Capital were appointed as the lead managers for a $ 1 billion, 10-year sovereign bond, which was priced at 6.25 per cent.