Sampath Bank Rs.7bn debenture issue snapped up on opening day

Sampath Bank PLC yesterday said its Rs.7 billion Basel III-compliant debenture issue was oversubscribed on the opening day.

The debenture issue was in three tranches— 50 million, five-year subordinated debentures with convertibility into equity, followed by two other equal tranches of 10 million debentures with similar characteristics at Rs.100 each, in the event of an oversubscription of the preceding tranches. 

“We wish to inform you that we have received applications for over Rs.7 billion for the above debenture issue by Sampath Bank PLC and accordingly, the issue has been oversubscribed,” the company secretaries to Sampath Bank said in a stock market filing, yesterday. 

The bank plans to use the debenture issue proceeds to strengthen its Tier II capital base and support its loan-book expansion. 

The debentures are to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.  

This is the third debt issue by Sampath Bank since July 2017. 

Basel III, which came into full effect on January 1, 2019, requires a domestic systematically important banks (D-SIBs) or banks with assets in excess of Rs.500 billion to have minimum capital adequacy ratios markedly above the previous minimums. 

Under Basel III, all D-SIBs must maintain their minimum common equity Tier I capital ratio at 8.5 percent, minimum Tier I at 10 percent and minimum total capital or Tier II capital at 14 percent. 

This is an increase from the 5.0 percent for Tier I and 10 percent for Tier II, under Basel II.