Leasing Funds

June 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's People's Leasing Company (PLC), a unit of state-run People's Bank, will sell a 200 million rupee 12-month debenture, Fitch Ratings, which gave the issue an ''F1(lka)' rating, said. A 'F1(lka)' national short-term rating indicates the strongest capacity for timely payment of financial commitments relative to other issuers or issues in the same country, Fitch Ratings Lanka said in a statement.

A "+" is added when the creditworthiness is particularly strong within the assigned category.

Fitch said the rating reflected People's Leasing's good access to borrowings from local banks and the availability of undrawn credit lines of 651 million rupees as of June 10 and was a function of PLC being one of the larger, more established, specialised leasing companies in the country.

Fitch said there was comfort from People's Bank, which was rated 'A-(lka) with a positive outlook. PLC was a 100 percent subsidiary of the bank.

"The rating is constrained by PLC's inability, as a non-bank financial institution, to access the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's discount window," Fitch said.

"The above rating is also credit linked to PLC's national Long-term rating of 'A-(lka)' (A min