In a disclosure to Colombo Stock Exchange Sterling Capital Investments (Pvt.) Ltd., an exporter of Japanese vehicles to Sri Lanka, said that the company has completed its Rs. 1.36 billion takeover of People’s Merchant Finance (PMF) through a private placement of shares and a rights issue.

The disclosure added that the capital infusion by Sterling Capital at Rs. 9.50 a share gives amounting to 67.9% in People’s Merchant Finance. The filinf further said that NDB Investment Bank, was the sole advisor to the deal, and Sterling Capital’s investment was partly through a Rs. 160 million private placement and the rest by subscribing to 126,384,052 ordinary voting shares of PMF by way of a rights issue.

Earlier owned by state owned Peoples Bank group, People’s Merchant Finance had negotiated the deal with Sterling Capital after dropping a possible merge with People’s Leasing and Finance in January 2019. Meanwhile Sterling Capital’s investment raises PMF’s core capital over the minimum of Rs. 1.5 billion stipulated by the Central Bank.