The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has showcased a growth trajectory in capital raising by Sri Lankan corporates of all scales during the first seven months of this year.
Sri Lankan corporates are increasingly recognising the exchange as a platform to achieve greater financial freedom, improved access to capital, enhanced global profile, access to liquidity and an attractive proposition to tap into global capital, a CSE official said. To date, the CSE has facilitated 12 new listings, including seven debt IPOs with a value of Rs. 47.29 bn, four equity IPOs with a value of Rs. 7.49 bn and 01 SPO with a value of Rs. 3.5 bn. It should be noted that this is the highest number of equity IPOs that the CSE has facilitated since 2014 and the largest in cumulative value since 2011. In total, the stock market has facilitated the raising of Rs. 77.30 bn. This includes Rs. 10.99 bn raised by Equity IPOs and the SPO, Rs. 47.29 bn raised by Debt IPOs, Rs. 16.56 bn raised by Rights Issues and Rs. 2.46 bn raised by private placements. The five equity Initial and Secondary public issues held during the year so far include Windforce PLC, Chrissworld Ltd, Prime Lands Residencies PLC, JAT Holdings Limited and Sanasa Development Bank all of which were launched with Public Issues.
The first Empower Board listing, Chrissworld Limited, debuted trading successfully, which is an encouraging start for further Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)listings.
With State institutions such as Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) opting to finance their capital needs through the Sri Lankan stock market, the CSE has established the confidence of both private and state institutions as an effective and efficient source for capital raising. CEO of CSE, Rajeeva Bandaranaike said, “As businesses adopt and expand in the current environment, facilitating funding avenues is a primary priority in building a resilient economy in Sri Lanka. In fulfilling this requirement, the stock exchange has established itself as a viable option that can be leveraged by corporates as an alternative to traditional capital raising methods.
“With the support of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, the stock broker community, investment banks, other market intermediaries and technology providers we have actively engaged to drive investor participation and issuer participation by introducing new rules and processes and improving accessibility and market infrastructure,” he said.
– Sunday Observer Sri Lanka
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