Fitch withdraws Ceylon Income Fund rating; CAM says fund’s assets of investment grade
15 Sep 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Fitch Ratings Lanka yesterday withdrew Ceylon Income Fund’s (CIF) National Fund Credit Quality Rating of ‘A(lka)’. CIM is managed by Ceylon Asset Management (CAM).
Following the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka not renewing the licence of Lanka Rating Agency (LRA), in July 2015 Fitch placed the fund on rating watch negative.
Fitch said the proportion of the fund’s assets that used to be rated by LRA was 32 percent at 9 September 2015.
Fitch has withdrawn the rating due to insufficient information as assets previously rated by LRA are no longer monitored. Accordingly, Fitch will no longer provide ratings for Ceylon Income Fund.
However CAM in a separate statement said the fund’s assets are of investment grade and the LRA suspension is beyond the control of the fund, the fund manger and the underlying listed company.
The assets of the fund continue to be listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), despite the LRA suspension by the SEC. Under the CSE listing rules it is mandatory for listed debentures to have a valid rating in order to be listed on the CSE.
“Ceylon Asset Management assures investors of the Ceylon Income Fund that the fund continues to invest in investment grade securities that are listed in the CSE,” the CAM statement said.
Fitch continues to rate the Ceylon Dollar Bond Fund (BB-/V5), which is managed by CAM.
