SLPA to issue $1 b bond in October

Reuters: The State-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) will go to international capital markets in October to sell a $ 1 billion corporate bond, a source close to the deal said on Thursday.

Proceeds from the issue will be used to repay part of its yen-dominated loans and to expand port facilities.

In May, SLPA Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama told Reuters that the Ports Authority planned to issue two 10-year bonds of $ 500 million each, with the first one to be sold around July and the second one later this year.

“It will be in October and the plan is to go for the both ($ 500 million bonds) at once,” the source who has direct knowledge of the Ports Authority’s bond issue told Reuters.

It will be the biggest corporate bond issue by the $ 59 billion economy after the country’s largest lender, the Bank of Ceylon, raised $ 500 million through a five-year paper in early May.

The Ports Authority has already mandated HSBC as one of its lead managers.

Since the end of a 25-year war in 2009, Sri Lanka has been investing heavily in ports, including a $ 1.5 billion Chinese-financed new port in the southern District of Hambantota.

Sri Lanka is also in the process of selling a $ 1 billion sovereign bond later this month. The Central Bank started road shows on Thursday.