People's Merchant raises Rs. 200mn for Ceylinco Development

People's Merch-ant Bank PLC (PMB) recently structured and placed Rs.200 mn in lease backed trust certificates, on behalf of the Ceylinco Development Bank (CDB).

These trust certificates are secured by a quality portfolio of leases, and their tenure ranges from three months to one year. An attractive fixed rate of interest was attached to each trust certificate, based on their respective tenures. Monies raised through this issue will be utilised to further augment CDB's fund based operations and to pursue its aggressive growth strategy.

The legal documentation for the issue was carried out by Nithya Partners, whilst PMB are the trustees in respect of the issue. This is the second placement carried out by PMB for CDB, having raised Rs.100 mn through a similar issue, in May 2007.

CDB is the development banking arm of the Ceylinco Consolidated, a leading business conglomerate in the country. CDB services are spread over a spectrum of financial services both fee and fund based including Project financing, Business Loans, Leasing, Trade Financing/Bills Discounting, Management Consultancy services and Bancassurance.