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ACLEDA Bank Raises Capital to US$50 million

January 04, 2008

Phnom Penh – January 04, 2008 – ACLEDA Bank Plc., Cambodia’s leading retail bank which celebrates its fifteenth anniversary this year, has raised its issued and paid-up capital from US$30 million to US$50 million it was announced today.

ACLEDA Bank Plc. is 51% owned by Cambodian interests, including its staff, with the remaining 49% held in equal parts by leading international institutions including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), Nederlandse Financierings Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), Stichting Triodos Doen and Triodos Custody B.V. As previously, the additional capital has been raised by means of a rights issue of 20 million new fully paid shares of US$1 each all of which have been taken up by the existing shareholders.

This is the fourth time ACLEDA has lifted its capital since becoming a registered bank. In 2000, it raised US$4 million to launch ACLEDA Bank Limited as a specialised bank. In 2003, in order to support its growth it boosted its capital to US$13 million by means of a rights issue and at the same time re-registered as a full commercial bank under the name ACLEDA Bank Plc. In 2006, it again increased its capital to US$30 million through another rights issue to finance its branch expansion and build an ATM network, whilst this latest addition will enable the bank to continue to grow to meet its strategic goals. ACLEDA has experienced consistent increases in net profit after tax from just over US$475,000 in 2001 to around US$6.7 million in 2006 last year and is forecasting another substantial rise in earnings when its audited accounts for 2007 are announced. In addition to calling on its shareholders for capital increases the bank has been building up its general reserves by retaining 60% of its post-tax profits and reports that after this current issue its tier 1 and tier 2 capital will reach USD83.5 million...

ACLEDA’s Chairman, Mr. Chea Sok, a former central banker and economist, explaining why the bank was seemingly always hungry for new capital, cited three principal reasons. "Firstly, ACLEDA continues to experience strong growth in its core domestic business with loans and total assets increasing at more than 50% annually", he said. "Secondly, in this relatively undeveloped financial environment our policy is to maintain our capital base at the upper level of the regulatory prudency ratios. But perhaps the most important of all is the need to build public trust. By demonstrating that we have strong shareholders ready and willing to support the bank we are creating confidence in our ability to protect our customers' savings."

Mr. In Channy, President and CEO, added that, as announced last week, ACLEDA will be investing in a new bank in Laos this year which will be named ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd and it is planning to open three branches there before the end of 2008. "Domestically, here in Cambodia we'll be increasing our ATM network to 62 and installing 2,000 'Point Of Sale' (POS) terminals. In addition we plan to open 24 new offices during the year bringing the total up to 228 throughout the country giving employment to over 5,600 staff", he said. "We are also embarking on a substantial upgrade of our management information systems to cope with this growth and in particular support our regional expansion."

For more information contact:

Mrs. So Phonnary, Senior Vice President & Head of Marketing Division
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Mr. Prom Visoth, Senior Vice President & Head of Legal Division and Company Secretary
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