Two more SMEs to go public

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) yesterday gave the go-ahead to Oryza Agro Industries and Master Feed Agrotec to raise funds of Tk 10 crore each from the stock market through its SME board.

In the past, many of the country's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had repeatedly urged the BSEC to let them go public.

The commission eventually gave in to these demands by passing a rule in 2018, allowing all companies with a paid-up capital between Tk 5 crore to Tk 30 crores to offload shares on the newly formed SME board.

Earlier in April this year, Nialco Alloys became the first company to be traded on the board while Mostafa Metal secured approval later in June.

During a commission meeting held yesterday, the stock market regulator allowed the Oryza Agro and Master Feed to join the board in a bid to facilitate growth in the local SME sector, according to a press release.

The session was chaired by Prof Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, chairman of the BSEC.

Both companies will issue one crore shares at Tk 10 each, it said.

However, they are not allowed to issue any bonus shares for the next three years since they are newly listed in the trading board.

If an investor has investments of at least Tk one crore, then they will be considered as a qualified investor to buy the stocks of these companies through the SME board.

The issue manager of the Oryza is Imperial Capital and City Bank Capital Resources while Master Feed's issue manager is the NBL Capital & Equity Management and Asian Tiger Capital Partners Investments.

The meeting also approved amendments to the BSEC Public Issue Rules, 2015, which will be made public through a gazette soon.