Lanka Credit and Business Finance rings the bell to debut trading at CSE

NDB Investment Bank Chief Corporate Advisory Officer Nilendra Weerasinghe, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike, LCB Finance Chairman/Director Prof. W.M. Abeyrathne Bandara, CEO and Executive Director K.G. Leelananda, NDB Investment Bank CEO Darshan Perera, CSE Chief Regulatory Officer Renuke Wijeyawardhane 

LCB Finance Chairman and Director Prof. W.M. Abeyrathne Bandara

CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike

The shares of Lanka Credit and Business Finance Ltd. commenced trading on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday.

The shares have been listed on the Diri Savi Board of the CSE under the ‘Diversified Financial Services – 4020’

sector. The occasion was marked with a special Bell Ringing Ceremony hosted by the CSE.  

The listing follows a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) by the company, through which it raised over Rs. 500 million. The issue set a robust cornerstone with an oversubscription on the initial day of its offer itself.  

Chairman and Director Professor W.M. Abeyrathne Bandara and CEO and Executive Director K.G. Leelananda represented Lanka Credit and Business Finance Ltd. The CSE was represented by CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Chief Regulatory Officer M. Renuke Wijeyawardhane. Director and Chief Executive Officer Darshan Perera and Chief Corporate Advisory Officer Nilendra Weerasinghe represented NDB Investment Bank.

CSE CEO Bandaranaike, speaking at the ceremony, welcomed the company as the 287th listed company on the CSE. “We are happy to welcome today an established company in the financial services sector, with a history touching almost 60 years next year, to our Diri Savi Board of the Stock Exchange. LCB Finance is the seventh equity listing on the CSE and becomes the 35th Issue to be listed during the course of 2021. It is with a sense of pride and satisfaction that we note that the CSE is playing its role as a facilitator of capital, and we are making a meaningful contribution to the economic activity in the country. For this year we have facilitated over Rs. 105 billion worth of equity and debt capital to be raised through the market.” 

Speaking at the event, Lanka Credit and Business Finance Chairman Prof. Abeyrathne Bandara, said: “As we all know listing process is not a simple one, it is a complex process which requires lot of support and contribution from different parties, at different stages. No company can successfully complete their listing without receiving all the support from different parties. We as LCB Finance were fortunate to receive all this different support and contribution from different parties even at a time with a lot of restrictions and problems encountered by them, due to factors beyond their control, especially due to this COVID situation prevalent in Sri Lanka.”

Professor Bandara expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Chairman and the members of the board and the entire staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC), Chairman and the members of the board and the staff of the CSE, registrar companies and their staff, the advisors to the listing, CEO and the corporate staff members of the NDB Investment Bank, Corporate Services Ltd., Bankers to the listing Sampath Bank, brokering firms, print and electronic media and the team at LCB Finance for their support, dedication and commitment from the beginning to the end of the listing process.

Thanking the investors, he added: “I must thank our valuable investors who kept confidence in LCB Finance and made their investment in our shares. Their prompt and positive responses received was able to close the IPO within few hours of opening to the public on 26 October 2021.”