CSE approves listing of BOC debt instruments

17 September 2015 02:58 am

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday in principle granted approval to list the debt securities of state-owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC) amounting to Rs.8 billion.
To this end, the bank expects to issue 50 million unsecured, subordinated, redeemable debentures at an issue price of Rs.100 each with an option to issue up to further 30 million of the said debentures in the event of an oversubscription of the initial tranche.
Fitch Ratings Lanka has assigned a final AA(lka) rating for the issue, one notch below BOC’s national long-term rating, to reflect the subordination to senior unsecured creditors.
The proposed subordinated debentures will have tenures of five and eight years and carry fixed and floating coupons.
BOC plans to use the proceeds to strengthen its Tier II capital base and reduce asset and liability maturity mismatches.