Regulator okays Kattali Textile IPO despite DSE's objection
The capital market regulator has given a go-ahead to the initial public offering of Kattali Textile disregarding tough observations from the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
On June 26, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approved the IPO proposal of the garment exporter, which plans to raise Tk 34 crore from the market.
The DSE recommended the IPO of Kattali Textile should not be approved as it failed to submit some documents what the premier bourse wanted to verify the authenticity of the data presented in the draft prospectus of the company.
“Why should we review the draft prospectus of a company as the BSEC doesn't care about our recommendations?” said a board member of the DSE, requesting anonymity.
He said many IPO approvals have been given in recent times despite not being recommended by the DSE.
In December 2017, Kattali Textile applied to the DSE expressing its willingness to go public and submitted its draft prospectus accordingly.
The listing affairs and the corporate governance and financial reporting compliance departments of the exchange reviewed the prospectus.
According to the review, exports of Kattali Textile increased 22.42 percent and the cost of goods sold rose 22 percent year-on-year in 2016-17. Its cash received and cash paid also went up that year.
To verify the authenticity of the data, the DSE asked for some documents such as bank statements, letter of credit documents, bill of entry, VAT and tax documents and bill voucher. But the company failed to submit the documents. This led the DSE board not to recommend the IPO of Kattali Textile to the commission.
Md Fazlul Hoque, chief financial officer of the company, informed The Daily Star through a mobile phone message that Kattali Textile submitted all the related documents the BSEC and the DSE asked for.
“The BSEC is the final authority when it comes to giving IPO approval,” said Saifur Rahman, a spokesperson of the commission.
Market analysts, however, said the BSEC should value the recommendations of the stock exchanges as the bourses are the primary regulator of the capital market.
Mohammad Musa, a capital market expert, said the commission can disregard the recommendations of the stock exchanges, but there must be a ground.
The DSE can itself decline to list a company on the basis of its queries as well as on the ground of protecting small investors, said Musa, who co-authored the book “Initial Public Offering - The Case of Bangladesh”.
Kattali Textile will use the proceeds from the IPO to set up factories and dormitories for workers, buy new equipment and repay bank loans, according to a statement of the BSEC.
Net asset value of the company was Tk 20.48 (without revaluation) on June 30, 2017, and the earnings per share were Tk 1.94 in 2016-17.
NRB Equity Management Ltd is the issue manager of the IPO, the company said in a statement.
Located in Pahartoli, Chittagong, Kattali Textile specialises in the production of woven, knit tops and bottoms and has served many international buyers in North America and European markets, according to the company's website.
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