More textile IPOs in sight

The stockmarket braces for initial public offerings from a number of textile and garment companies, which plan to expand business to have a greater pie of the global apparel market.
The people who are at the helm of these companies say they are going public to raise working capital to widen operations.
Envoy Textile, a unit of Envoy Group, is among the companies stepping into the stockmarket, as the Securities and Exchange Commission has already given a go-ahead to the company's move to raise capital.
"We'll float IPO of Tk 40 crore on Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges with a face value of Tk 10 next year. The group has already sold a portion of the shares under a private placement," said Abdus Salam Murshedy, managing director of the group.
Meantime, a unit of Purbani Group, a leading fabric maker, is also in the pipeline to offload shares of approximately Tk 30 crore.
The company is expected to step into the market by year-end, according to Abdul Hai Sarker, the group chairman. However, he added that his firm is now at a preparatory stage for listing on bourses.
“Expanding business operations and raising capital are our targets,” Sarker said.
Some days back, SQ Celsius, a unit of SQ Group, an apparel giant, announced a plan to offload shares to the tune of more than Tk 150 crore by year-end.
On settlement of the pre-IPO or private placement by June, the formal share trade will debut in September, said Ghulam Faruque, the group's chairman and managing director.
As per the expansion plan, an SQ Station will be set up at Bhaluka in Mymensingh district where everything required for operating production will be available under one roof. The company has already purchased land for the project.
The SQ boss also said an asset management firm is now conducting the company's asset valuation and credit rating will be completed soon.
SQ Celsius' present paid-up capital is more than Tk 50 crore, while the number of its workers is 7,000. The total number of workers of the entire group is 10,000.
At present, 26 companies in the textile sector are listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange. Of the total scrips in the sector, some under-perform due to delayed annual general meetings and lapses in awarding dividends to shareholders for years.
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