SDF’s Rs.1bn Initial Public Offering oversubscribed on opening day

Sarvodaya Development Finance’s (SDF) Initial Public Offering (IPO) to raise Rs.1 billion, which opened yesterday on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was oversubscribed the same day.

SDF offered 45.45 million ordinary voting shares amounting to 30.38 percent stake in the company, priced at Rs.22 per a share through its IPO.

Before the closure of the IPO yesterday, SDF announced it had received applications for over 45.45 million ordinary voting shares valued above Rs.1 billion. Therefore, the company noted that both the initial issue and a further issue had been oversubscribed. Managed by NDB Investment Bank, the IPO was offered with a discount of 17 percent to the share issue transaction PBV. Micro-financing being its main business, SDF caters to marginalised rural communities through over 5,600  Sarvodaya Societies. SDF has 30 branches and 21 service centres across the country. 

Following the IPO, the company has also announced plans to obtain foreign credit lines by capitalising on the growing global appetite for impact investment. Currently, Sarvodaya Economic Enterprises Development Services (SEEDS) owns 52 percent of the company’s voting shares followed by 22 percent stake held by Sarvodaya related entities and 13 percent each by Japan’s Gentosha Total Asset Consulting Inc. and other existing shareholders.