CAL at the forefront of Lankan capital markets

Capital Alliance Partners Limited (CAL) has entered 2018 on a high note, having completed a number of high profile transactions last year in debt capital markets, equity capital markets and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) advice.

In a media release, the investment banker said the transactions highlighted CAL’s ability to liaise with investors and clients alike to successfully close cross border transactions with leading entities in Sri Lanka and across the globe.

During 2017, Jetwing Symphony Ltd, the investment arm of the renowned leisure brand Jetwing, went public by way of an IPO raising Rs. 753 million for 10 per cent of its shareholding. In spite of the lei- sure industry having a negative outlook amongst investors, CAL’s ability to forecast market conditions and understand the needs of the investors helped CAL secure two cornerstone investors, who took up 50 per cent of the total issue value and provided confidence to other investors. The issue was oversubscribed on the opening day, the release said.

CAL was the sole financial Advisor and Manager to the Rs. 3 billion debenture issue for LB Finance PLC which received over Rs. 3.3 billion subscription before close of the issue opening day.

“CAL was also a placement agent to the first Basel III compliant convertible debenture issue in Sri Lanka, for Sampath Bank. The issue generated a significant amount of enthusiasm amongst investors to be oversubscribed by 1.5 times the issue value cumulatively raising Rs. 9 billion. This was the largest debenture issue for the year 2017,” the release said.

Commenting on this trend of exponential g rowth, Ajith Fernando, Managing Director of CAL said: “As a full service investment bank including equity brokering, asset management and financial advisory, CAL is uniquely positioned to offer Sri Lankan corporates the opportunity to leverage on our expertise and impeccable credentials to meet their financial objectives”.