CDB goes for listing

Citizens Development Business Finance announced the listing of the company in the Diri Savi Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange.

CDB's GM / CEO / Director Mahesh Nanayakkara said the key objectives of our listing are to comply with the regulatory requirements ahead of stipulated deadlines, broadening shareholder structure, strengthening the capital raising ability to support future growth strategy and increasing transparency as a public listed institution.

"CDB's post-tax profit for the first half of 2010 is expected to surpass Rs 100 million. This reflects a growth of 670 percent compared to the corresponding previous year's figure. This is a remarkable performance with our total assets base growing by 30 percent to reach Rs 7.5 billion. Our total deposit base stood at Rs 5,773 million while the overall NPL ratio stood at 5.84 percent at August 31, 2010.

CDB is expected to list 39,685,048 shares. Ernst and Young will act as advisors to the listing and Nithya Partners the Legal Advisors.

The CDB listing comes at a time when Sri Lanka is both the focal point of the world and upbeat with a positive business environment. This is expected to result in new investments, business expansions, new products, services and technologies being churned out at a rapid pace after the end of the three-decade long war. CDB Chairman Rajkumar Renganathan said the time was opportune for such a listing.

"Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka's economic climate has been on an upward trend. With the opening up of the North and East, the signs are both healthy and positive. We have great confidence that this listing will help us achieve our future goals," he said.