GP aims to go public in Q3
Grameenphone is aiming to offload shares to the capital market in the 3rd quarter of 2008, according to a roadmap submitted by the company to the telecoms regulator last month.
The roadmap which details the timescale of the initial pubic offering also states that Citigroup Global Markets has been assigned as adviser to Grameenphone to assist the company in devising a strategy; timeframe and execution plan for the IPO.
Citigroup Global Markets is to complete its valuation of GP by February, 2008. All recommendations regarding the IPO will then go to GP's board that is scheduled to hold a meeting at the end of February.
If the board approves these recommendations the company will submit the plans to the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The IPO plans will also need the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the roadmap, GP is looking to list its shares sometime between July and September.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) asked the country's two leading mobile companies--Grameen and AKTEL -- to submit their plans to the commission by December 10, 2007.
But AKTEL's plan is still unclear as its parent organisation Telecom Malaysia has started its own demerger process.
Sources said besides the valuation, Citigroup Global Markets will also conduct a survey on Bangladesh's capital markets, typical rules and regulations of SEC and other market characteristics.
"We received the roadmaps of both Grameen and AKTEL", said an official of BTRC.
Grameen's chief executive officer Anders Jensen last November claimed that Garmeenphone is worth more than $3.5billion and that it may initially list less than 10 percent of its shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange by 2008.
Grameenphone is 62 percent owned by Norway's Telenor and 38 percent by local Grameen Telecom.
Sources said whatever the amount of shares offered they will be in proportion to the current ownership structure.
The lack of clarity in AKTEL's plans it related to the planned restructuring of Telekom Malaysia (TM), which owns 70 percent of the shares in AKTEL.
TM's plans to place all its mobile operations, both Malaysian and international, in a separate company from its fixed line, data and broadband operations.
"Therefore, AKTEL might be listed in the capital market at the end of 2008," said a high official of BTRC.
According to the latest update by the BTRC, Grameenphone leads the local mobile phone subscriber market with 16.01 million users followed by AKTEL with 6.53 million till November, 2007.
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