25 SoEs to go public soon

FE Report The necessary preparations to offload the shares of 25 state-owned enterprises (SoEs) will be completed by next month (December) in a bid to boost share supply in the stock market, officials said. Md. Fayekuzzaman, the managing director of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), Thursday disclosed this after holding a review meeting with the officials related to share offloading process of SoEs. "We hope the necessary proceedings of the 25 SoEs will be completed by December this year. The proposed companies will offload their shares in the stock market one after another to keep pace with the demand of the market," Mr Fayekuzzaman said. He said by this time the ICB has submitted the IPO proposals of two SoEs---Bangladesh Submarine Cable and Essential Drugs--- to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to ICB managing director, the other companies, which have been working to offload shares are: Teletalk Bangladesh, Pragoti Industries, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Chittagong Dry-dock, Bangladesh Services, Telephone Shilpa Sangstha, Bakhrabad Gas System, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Gas Transmission, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Systems, Pashchimanchal Gas company, Sylhet Gas Field, Bangladesh Gas Field, Rural Power Company, Hotels International, Bangladesh Insulator and Sanitaryware Factory (BISF), Chatak Cement Company, Karnaphuli Paper Mills, General Electric Manufacturing Company (GEM CO), Bangladesh Bred Factory, Bangladesh Cable Industry and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC). By this time, the BSC has completed the public subscription to offload more 6.20 million shares through repeat public offering (RPO). "The companies will act to complete their auditing, credit rating and valuation within shortest possible time," Mr Fayekuzzaman said. He said Bangladesh Services will go public under direct listing method. And other companies will go public under direct listing or other IPO-method. He said the securities regulator should employ designated officials so that the proposed SoEs get regulatory nod within the shortest possible time.