The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in August 2022 allowed the company to determine the cut-off price through bidding by eligible investors, a requirement for going public under the book-building method.
The cut-off price of the shares of the company has been fixed at Tk 50 each. General investors, including non-resident Bangladeshis, however, got shares at Tk 20 each at a 60 per cent discount on the cut-off price, as per the rule set by the stock market regulator.
Earlier, the securities regulator said while approving the IPO proposal that the general investors would get shares at 30 per cent discount on the cut-off price or Tk 20 each, whichever is lower.
Each general investor got 86 initial public offering (IPO) shares of the company, while non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) received 143 shares against a deposit of Tk 10,000 on the pro-rata basis.
The IPO subscription was held between February 4 and February 8 to raise Tk 950 million from the primary market under the book-building method. The IPO was oversubscribed as it received more than Tk 3.95 billion against shares worth Tk 950 million, according to Dhaka Stock Exchange.
The company's IPO subscription was supposed to be held on January 16-22 last year. But the securities regulator suspended the IPO subscription just one day before the start of the subscription period over the allegations of over-valuation of company assets and false land ownership.
The BSEC then formed a probe committee to investigate the matter, and found some anomalies in its financial statements submitted to the regulator.
Following the probe body findings, the stock market regulator fined directors and the issue manager Tk 5 million each and managing director, chief financial officer and company secretary Tk 2.50 million each for violations of securities laws.
Almost a year later, the regulator finally lifted the suspension order in November last year following payments of the fines.
Asiatic Laboratories will utilize the IPO proceeds for acquisition & installation of new plant & machinery (61 per cent), partial repayment of bank loan (30 per cent), construction of factory building for expansion unit (6 per cent), and IPO expenses (3 per cent).
Meanwhile, the drug maker's net profit for FY '22 fell 16 per cent to Tk 268.56 million, down from Tk 320.52 million for FY '21, as per the latest earnings disclosure published on Tuesday.
The company's post-IPO net asset value (NAV) per share with revaluation reserve stood at Tk 50.60 and without revaluation reserve at Tk 35.48.
Asiatic Laboratories will be the 35th listed company under the 'pharmaceuticals & chemicals' sector. The pharmaceuticals & chemicals' sector accounted for 16.2 per cent of the market-cap of the Dhaka bourse.
In commercial operation since 2000, Asiatic Laboratories is engaged in the production and marketing of more than 80 generic molecules in the form of tablets, capsules, syrups, creams, eye care products, and injections.
At present, the company produces 6 million tablets, 5 million capsules, 2 million injections, 1.5 million tube creams, and 1.6 million bottles of syrup every year.
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