ComBank’s Rs 6 billion Debenture Issue to open on 12th December 2023

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has approved in principle the listing of Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s Rs 6 billion Debenture Issue opening on Tuesday 12th December 2023.

The Bank has announced an initial issue of 60 million Basel III Compliant – Tier 2 Listed Rated Unsecured Subordinated Redeemable Debentures with a Non-Viability Conversion feature, at the par value of Rs 100/= each, to raise Rs 6 billion, with an option to issue up to another 60 million Debentures to raise an additional Rs 6 billion at the discretion of the Bank in the event of an oversubscription of the initial issue.

The Bank said the issue will further strengthen its Tier II capital base, raise funds for the expansion of its lending portfolio, and bridge maturity mismatches in the assets and liabilities portfolio of the Bank.

The Debentures will be offered in three tenures – Types A and B with a five-year tenure, Types C and D with a seven-year tenure, and Types E and F with a 10-year tenure, the Bank said.

Type A will carry a fixed interest rate of 14.50%. p.a. (AER 15.03%) payable semi-annually; Type B 15.00% p.a. (AER 15.00%) payable annually; Type C 13.75% p.a. (AER 14.22%) payable semi-annually; Type D 14.25% (AER 14.25%) payable annually; Type E 13.50% p.a. (AER 13.96%) payable semi-annually; and Type F 14.00% (AER 14.00%) payable annually.

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 at Rs 10,000/- or 100 Debentures.

The Debentures are rated BBB+ (lka) by Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited. The Investment Banking Division of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC is the Manager to the Issue.

More details of the Debenture Issue can be obtained from the application form and prospectus on the Bank’s website www.combank.lk and the Colombo Stock Exchange’s website www.cse.lk and are available with Trading Participants of the CSE. The Bank said applications can be handed over at any Commercial Bank branch.

For the nine months ending September 2023 the Commercial Bank Group reported gross income of Rs 255.963 billion, total operating income of Rs 86.45 billion, profit before tax of Rs 25.031 billion and profit after tax of Rs 14.764 billion, with total assets reaching Rs 2.526 trillion, loans and advances totalling Rs 1.239 trillion and total deposits exceeding Rs 2.038 trillion as at 30th September 2023.