BSRS to offload Tk 200m shares for trading

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Refayet Ullah Mirdha
Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS), a state-owned industrial financing company, is amending its memorandum of articles of association to offload shares in the stock market.
Talking to the FE, managing director of BSRS, FRM Hafizul Islam said the paid-up capital of the company has already been raised to Tk 1.0 billion. Shares worth Tk 200 million will be offloaded for trading in the stock market, he added.
He said the BSRS has increased its paid-up capital by taking Tk 300 million from its reserve. The amount of total reserved fund of the BSRS was worth Tk 1.80 billion, he said.
"The government has given us three months time for offloading the BSRS shares. If everything goes well the formal trading of the shares will start from last part of the next month or early January next," Hafizul Islam said.
He said BSRS has also a plan to launch second BSRS Mutual Fund next year for trading in the stock market.
In September last, a three-member committee, formed to offload shares of BSRS, has recommended the government to raise its paid-up capital from the reserve fund before listing on the stock exchanges.
The committee comprises Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) managing director Ziaul Haque Khandaker, BSRS managing director FRM Hafizul Islam and deputy secretary of the finance ministry M Kamrunnahar.
The face value of the share might be fixed at Tk 100, BSRS sources said adding it depends on the government decision.
BSRS sources said currently, the total amount of loan disbursed by the BSRS to the industrial sector is Tk 2.10 billion.
In the last fiscal, the BSRS's recovery of loan was worth Tk 320 million, he said. In the current fiscal, the target has been fixed to recover Tk 500 million.
The BSRS chief said this specialised lending agency of the government has written off Tk 1.30 billion worth of bad debt recently.
The committee recommended for taking measures to offload the BSRS shares through the direct listing method to save time, sources said.