Beximco’s Tk 3,000cr green sukuk debuts in bourses

Beximco's Tk 3,000-crore green sukuk, the first shariah-based bond in the corporate sector of Bangladesh, made its trading debut on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday as most stocks ended higher.

With a face value of Tk 100, the sukuk bond was the most-traded debt security on the debt board, with Tk 33.89 crore worth shares being traded.

The green bond closed one per cent higher at Tk 101 yesterday on hitting the highest Tk 110 earlier in the day.

"We are hopeful that the sukuk will get a good response. We think prices of the bond will be discovered through the trading," said Ershad Hossain, managing director and chief executive of City Bank Capital, issue manager of Beximco green sukuk bond.

After getting clearance from the capital market regulator on July 8, the sukuk's subscription through initial public offering (IPO) started on August 16 and closed on December 21 after several deadline extensions owing to the response being lukewarm.

For a 9 per cent profit per annum, institutional investors subscribed to 81 per cent of the green bond maturing in five years. General investors subscribed to 14 per cent of the sukuk.

Hossain expects more debt securities to be listed and provide investors alternative opportunities apart from the equity market.

As the benchmark index crossed the 7,000 mark and some measures have been taken, the market will perform better, he said.

Yesterday, the DSEX, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), closed 21.16 points or 0.30 per cent higher at 7,017.22.

The Shariah-based index, DSES, and blue-chip index, DS30, also closed at a higher level.