Seylan Bank to expand with Rs. 4.6b Rights Issue

At an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held last Monday (May 9), Seylan Bank launched a Rights Issue through which it proposes to raise Rs. 4,691,533,285.

The Bank will offer 43,333,333 ordinary voting shares to the registered holders of ordinary voting shares in the ratio of one share for every three shares held in the Company at an issue price of Rs. 75/- per ordinary voting share.

It will offer 41,186,666 non voting shares to registered holders of ordinary non voting shares in the ratio of one share for every three shares held in the Company at an issue price of Rs. 35/- per ordinary (non-voting) share.

Chairman Seylan Bank Eastman Narangoda said, "The objectives of the Rights Issue are primarily to increase the Tier 1 Capital of the Bank to have a strong capital base, and for mobilisation of long-term funds in a bid to fund the proposed increase in the long-term lending portfolio of the Bank, especially the housing sector and also to facilitate future expansion of the Bank".

The Bank's long-term lending will also cover large scale investment projects along with agricultural, small and medium scale projects.

Under a proposed expansion program, Seylan Bank will also increase its branch network islandwide while upgrading and refurbishing existing branches.

The Bank also looks forward to investing in advanced IT infrastructure to meet the demands of its expansion drive and to further add value to its customer service enhancement processes to improve business efficiency.