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bourses under direct listing system. The DSE took the decision at a
meeting yesterday. No companies except the government-owned ones
will be listed directly on the stock exchanges, according to a DSE
press statement, which said the bourse took the decision for the
interest of the market. Meanwhile, Navana CNG Limited, a private
company, yesterday completed sale of half of its shares, or 1.81
crore ordinary shares of Tk 10 each, under direct listing. Navana CNG
received a bonanza of around Tk 360 crore against only Tk 18 crore
shares. However the DSE decision will have to be accepted and
permitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Market
analysts came down heavily on the DSE for taking such a move to bar
the private sector companies from direct listing. They said the
decision will hinder the supply of new issues to the market. "If any
company makes a huge business through the existing direct listing
method and if it seems that the rules are being abused, the rules
should be amended," said Yawer Sayeed, managing director of AIMS of
Bangladesh. "But, no company should be barred from direct listing,"
he said. A special committee formed earlier by the SEC had
recommended for some amendments to the existing direct listing rules.
"But neither the SEC nor the DSE took initiatives to bring changes in
the direct listing method based on the recommendation," said Sayeed,
who was a member of the committee. ICB Securities Trading Company and
Sharp Securities, the selling agents for Navana CNG, said the sister
concern of Navana Group received Tk 200 per share on an average.
Offloading of the CNG (compressed natural gas) conversion and
re-fuelling company's shares started on the two bourses on August 30
under direct listing method, an alternative way of enlisting
profitable companies that do not prefer IPO system. "We have
completed the sale of Navana CNG shares today [yesterday]," said
Mozammel Haque, director of Sharp Securities, which sold 1.21 crore
shares. "It's the record lowest time for completing sale of shares
under direct listing rules. No company was able to finish offloading
shares within just seven trading days," he said. The rest 60 lakh
shares were sold by ICB Securities Trading Company. "From our side,
we have completed the sale couple of days ago," said Kazi Sanaul Hoq,
chief executive officer of ICB Securities. On the first day, price of
Navana CNG shares rose as high as Tk 270 before closing at Tk 190.
48. However, the average prices of Navana shares were in between Tk
200 and Tk 205 in the last six days. The bonanza could encourage
other profitable companies to get listed with the stock exchanges,
market analysts said. They said the profitable companies that do not
prefer existing IPO (initial public offering) method should take the
direct listing facilities to go public. The entrepreneurs will get the
best value of their shares, as price of a security is determined by
prospective investors directly in the secondary market under the
direct listing method, the analysts said. Before Navana CNG, five
government entities -- Desco, Power Grid, Jamuna Oil, Meghna
Petroleum and Titas Gas -- and two private organisations --
Shinepukur Ceramics and ACI Formulations -- were listed directly.
