“TFC to strike merger deal with state bank”
Both the State Mortage & Investment Bank (SMIB) and The Finance Company (TFC) have responded to last week’s Business Times (BT) report headlined “TFC to strike merger deal with state bank”.
In a letter to the newspaper, Vikum Perera, Marketing Manager of SMIB has said the chairman of SMIB has no intention to merge with any non bank financial institution and never had discussions with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to merge with TFC.
TFC, a listed stock, in a communication to the Colombo Stock Exchange refers to the BT story and confirms the report, saying that there have been “very broad and preliminary discussions between The Finance Company Plc and various financial institutions about the possibility of such mergers”.
However, these discussions are at an extremely preliminary stage with there being no agreements, even in principle”.
TFC CEO Kamal Yatawara, who himself was quoted in the BT story, said in the communiqué to the CSE that there “is no certainty as yet of the identity or the terms and conditions of a possible merger”.
BT Business Editor : We stand by our story.