The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will request the securities regulator not to allow any public limited company (PLC) to float shares having face value below Tk 10.
"This is an epoch-making decision to prevent manipulation of share prices having the face value less than Tk 10," said Rakibur Rahman, DSE president after the DSE board meeting Sunday.
"We'll place our proposal before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) soon. There is enough scope to manipulate the shares having face value at Tk 1.0," he said adding that the bourse will also bring necessary changes in listing regulations to this effect.
Asked if the DSE decision will make the flotation of the Grameenphone (GP) IPO uncertain, he replied that decision had been taken for the sound growth of the market.
When contacted with Rubaba Dowla, chief Communications Officer of GP, "This is a matter to be examined by the SEC."
DSE, however, in mid-September last year suggested the market regulator for fixing the face value of each GP share at Tk 10 instead Tk 1.0 as proposed by the country's largest mobile operator.
The GP plans to raise a total of $125 from the capital market, of which $ 65 million will be raised through initial public offering (IPO) and the rest through pre-placement.
The amount of $125 is much smaller than what the mobile company had initially planned due to the current financial meltdown.
Earlier in July last, it planned to raise $300 million--$150 million from the stock market and the rest through private placement.
The GP filed a primary application for the IPO on November 12 to the SEC.
The GP's $ 60 million pre-IPO was settled with a huge response from the local market. Its pre-IPO placement offer was oversubscribed by three times, as it got a strong support from more than 48 local institutional investors.
About Tk 3.2 billion is now stuck up in pre-IPO placement over the last three months. Some subscribers are finding it difficult to keep their funds idle for a long period in pre-IPO placement. After floatation, the subscribers of pre-placement will have to keep their funds idle for a lock-in period of one year.
