Prime Bank likely to issue Tk 2.5b subordinated bond

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Siddique Islam
Prime Bank Limited is expected to issue subordinated bond, for the first time, worth Tk 2.5 billion this month to consolidate their capital base in line with the Basel-II framework.
"We expect that the bonds will be issued within this month," Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the bank Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury told the FE Saturday.
He said: "We want to keep our capital base strong over and above the minimum requirement under Basel-II accord and eager to support business growth.
The central bank has given approval to the bank to issue the bond on private placement basis to meet their capital requirement under Basel-II framework, officials said.
"We've allowed the bank for issuing the unsecured bond to meet their capital requirement in line with the Basel-II accord," Deputy General Manager of the Banking Regulation and Policy Department of the central bank K M Abdul Wadood told the FE.
The bonds will be amortised and have a tenure of seven years. The coupon rate has been fixed at 11.50 per cent annually.
Each bond will be for Tk 10 million and privately placed amongst institutions like banks, insurance companies, non-banking financial institutions in the country.
US banking giant Citibank, N.A's Dhaka office is the placement agent and lead arranger for raising the funds.