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day of its five-day nationwide subscription for an initial public
offering (IPO), the largest of its kind in the history of Bangladesh
capital market. Hundreds queued up outside several bank branches in
Motijheel, Dhaka's commercial hub. Prospective investors from across
the country, comprising retired officials to students, converged at
503 branches of the 15 selected banks and Investment Corporation
of Bangladesh, to deposit money against Grameenphone shares. "We are
delighted at the response for the shares on the first day of the
Grameenphone IPO subscription and hope the sentiments and interest
will continue," said Silmat Chisti, head of Capital Markets of
Citigroup Global Markets Bangladesh Private Ltd, issue manager of
the IPO. "We seek support from all capital market stakeholders to
complete the landmark transaction smoothly," she added. Grameenphone,
the country's largest mobile phone operator, looks to raise Tk
486.08 crore from the public by issuing 69 ,439 ,400 ordinary shares
worth Tk 10 each, in addition to a Tk 60 premium per share. The
market lot has been fixed at 200 shares, which means a prospective
investor will have to deposit Tk 14 ,000 along with his/her IPO
application. The subscription will close Thursday for resident
Bangladeshis, but will remain open for non-resident Bangladeshis till
October 18. Grameenphone, which received the final approval from the
Securities and Exchange Commission on August 20 , will use proceeds
from the issue to expand its network and develop information
technology and for general corporate purposes. Brokerage houses and
merchant banks were busy till yesterday to open new BO ( beneficiary
owners') accounts, which fresh investors will use in the Grameenphone
IPO. "We are experiencing intense pressure from new comers to open BO
accounts," said a broker. Some 2 ,00 ,000 new BO accounts have so
far been opened, targeting the Grameenphone IPO, and the figure may
reach 3 ,00 ,000. Grameenphone is 62 percent owned by Telenor of
Norway and the rest by Grameen Telecom, a subsidiary of micro-finance
giant Grameen Bank, which was set up by Nobel peace prize winner
Muhammad Yunus. It has around 21.16 million of Bangladesh's fast
growing 48 million cellular subscriber base. It is also the
country's largest private company by revenue.
