Seylan Bank Rs 4.69 b Rights Issue full

Seylan Bank’s Rights Issue which closed last Thursday was fully subscribed with both classes of shares (voting and non-voting) attracting applications over and above the number offered under the rights. The objectives of the Rights Issue were initially to increase the Bank’s Tier 1 Capital to have a strong capital base. Added to this was the mobilisation of long-term funds to support the proposed increase in the Bank’s long-term lending portfolio, especially the housing and SME sectors and also to facilitate the Bank’s branch expansion programme.

Seylan Bank Chairman Eastman Narangoda said the resounding success of this latest initiative is an overwhelming endorsement of the faith the public of Sri Lanka has in Seylan Bank. “This spurs us to maintain our momentum and further propel the Bank forward to even greater levels of success,” he said.

The Bank offered 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 parallely offered 41,186,666 Non-Voting Shares to the 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.

General Manager and CEO Kapila Ariyaratne reiterated that Seylan Bank will implement the planned series of strategic measures.

Among them will be investment in advanced technology, organizational restructuring and employee job enrichment and engagement processes by benchmarking best practices from within and outside the country.

In addition there will also be a further investment on continuous staff training and development.

Seylan’s proposed expansion programme will see an increase of its countrywide branch network while existing branches will be upgraded and refurbished. Investment in advanced IT infrastructure will add greater value to its customer service enhancement processes.

Seylan Bank recently posted an impressive Rs 256.3 mn profit in the first quarter of 2011 recording a sharp 38 percent increase compared with the Rs 185.9 mn in the corresponding period of the previous year. The Bank’s pre-tax profit was Rs 395 mn, up by nearly 36 percent from the Rs 291.7 mn in the corresponding period of the previous year.