GP, SEC hold talks on IPO

The New Age

Mobile operator Grameenphone on Thursday held a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the company’s proposal of an initial public offering. ‘It was a routine meeting and we discussed over some of our queries concerning its IPO proposal,’ said SEC chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker.Grameenphone submitted the final IPO prospectus on January 28, but the SEC is yet to give a go-ahead to the $65 million (Tk 449 crore) IPO.

On Tuesday, Grameen-phone’s chief executive officer Oddvar Hesjedal at a meeting at the Chittagong Stock Exchange said the listing of the shares of Grameenphone with the country’s bourses would be finalised soon.Oddvar Hesjedal led the Grameenphone’s team in the Thursday’s meeting with the SEC, Ziaul Haque said.
The SEC chief said, ‘Grameenphone has decided to change the face value of its shares.’
On May 7, the SEC decided not to allow any public limited company to float shares with having the face value below Tk 10. The capital market regulator made the decision in line with an earlier proposal of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the country’s prime bourse. Grameenphone, which is waiting for the SEC’s approval for its IPO with a face value of Tk 1 each share, excluding premium, is required to change face value under the new situation.
The Grameenphone’s $60 million pre-IPO has already been settled with more than 40 local institutional investors.An air of uncertainty loomed over the fate of Grameenphone’s IPO as the SEC did not approve the IPO application of the mobile phone company within a stipulated time. In line with securities rules, the SEC has to approve any IPO within 60 days after the final submission of a prospectus. However, the rules allow the SEC to extend the deadline.