DFCC Bank's debenture issue oversubscribed

DFCC Bank’s three-year Listed Senior Unsecured Redeemable debenture issue was opened and closed within hours, with an overwhelming subscription, on the opening day.

This is the first time a financial institution raised debt in the local market at a single-digit rate of interest signalling the interest rate trends.

Rated AA- (lka) by Fitch ratings, the initial issue was to raise Rs 3 billion with an option to increase up to a further Rs 2 billion in the event of oversubscription.

The funds raised through this issue will be deployed to supplement and strengthen the funding base used for the Bank’s project lending activities, specially focusing on strengthening the SME loan portfolio to offer fixed rates of interest.

The Bank is also fully geared to support the Government's initiative to develop the 5+1 hubs in advancing Sri Lanka beyond a middle income economy, having aligned its strategic plans to support this initiative.

DFCC Bank CEO, Arjun Fernando said, “It is a great achievement for us that the issue has been oversubscribed at the lowest interest rate, when other similar rated issues were raised at much higher interest rates in the recent past.