Robi will get listed soon

Robi, the country’s second largest mobile operator, is gearing up to get listed, said the chief of the stock market regulator yesterday quoting the finance minister -- in a positive development for investors who are crying out for good stocks.

The disclosure was made by Khairul Hossain, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), during the inaugural ceremony of the World Investors Week 2019.

During the ceremony Hossain said he had just received a call from Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, who asked him to announce that Robi has agreed to offload shares.

Kamal had a meeting recently with Robi officials, who expressed their intent to get listed.

The operator wanted to offload shares at a premium price but Kamal advised them against it as Robi’s balance sheet was still not very strong, Hossain said.

In 2018, Robi with a market share of 29.38 percent made a profit of Tk 214.7 crore, after incurring losses in the previous two years, according to company data.

In 2015, the operator logged in profits, once again after two consecutive years of losses.

Then too there were talks of Robi getting listed, but that never materialised as the company sank back to losses, leaving Grameenphone as the lone listed mobile operator.

Plus, investors will not make much profits if the mobile operator opts to offload shares at a premium, the BSEC chairman said quoting Kamal. “So, finally they have agreed to get listed as per the government’s suggestion,” he added.

Contacted, Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi, remained circumspect about the carrier getting listed anytime soon.

“While we are very keen on enlisting in the stock market, the exorbitantly high corporate tax rate and the minimum tax is causing tremendous strain on our business. We don’t think that such taxation structure is conducive for us to come to the stock market.”

Subsequently, he urged the authorities to address the concerns to help Robi find a strong business footing.

“In addition, allowing corporate tax incentive would create a scenario that could win the confidence of the potential investors and our shareholders,” he said, adding that Robi recently had a fruitful discussion with the BSEC on the possibility of floating a corporate bond.

A top placed source at Robi said the operator is now trying to raise about Tk 400 crore from the local market by issuing zero coupon bond and the issue was discussed with the finance minister.

Meanwhile, Hossain said the government is committed to the development of the stock market. “Now, the government is focusing on offloading shares of the profitable state-run companies. You will see some within two or three months.”

The government will also grill the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, a state-run investment company that raised Tk 2,000 crore with the promise to invest 50 percent of the sum to the stock market. The company is yet to invest the sum.

BSEC Commissioners Md Helal Uddin Nizami, Swapan Kumar Bala and Khondoker Kamaluzzaman were present at the event.

Also at the event, BSEC’s online complaint window, called the Customer Complaint Address Module, was launched. Investors would now be able to file stock market-related complaints on the BSEC website.