CSE to ease rules to attract SOE debentures on individual merit
View(s):The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has set out guidelines to help state-owned enterprises (SOE) to go public with their debentures.
“This will be adopted on a case by case basis to help SOEs to raise capital through debentures,” Viraj Dayaratna, Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) told the Business Times on Friday. He explained that if an entity fails to meet certain requirements of the CSE when listing debentures, selected alternative criteria to meet them have been set through certain guidelines.
There are many SOEs interested in listing debentures after this ‘tweak’ was made, according to industry sources.
At the onset the SEC and the CSE had thought of relaxing the rules to onboard SOE debentures but thought otherwise as those with bad records and irreparable situations can find loopholes to raise cash anyway.
The CSE has approved an application by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to issue Senior Unsecured Listed Redeemable Rated Debentures at an Issue Price of Rs. 100 amounting to a potential capital raising of up to Rs. 20 billion, a CSE media release said.
Commenting on the development, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike stated, “We welcome other state institutions to strongly consider the
Sri Lankan stock market as a vehicle to finance growth and development.” (DEC)