ICB to seek 3 more months to repay loans
The state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) will seek three more months from the government to repay loans of Tk 600 crore.
On the back of a liquidity crunch in the capital market, the central bank recently gave ICB the loans for three months to buy shares to bring back normalcy in the market.
But ICB would not be able to repay the loans in time, as it does not want to sell shares in the present volatile market situation.
Khairul Hossain, chairman of ICB, said: "After selling a big amount of shares, we would be able to repay the loans."
"If we start selling now, the market will experience another debacle."
However, the board of ICB yesterday approved proceedings on their part to generate fund for the much-hyped “Bangladesh Fund”.
Hossain said the fund was created to boost the investors' confidence and give a massive liquidity support to the stockmarket.
The state-run investment organisation and seven other state-owned enterprises on Sunday announced to create the Tk 5,000 crore open-ended mutual fund.
Apart from the ICB, the seven other SoEs are: Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Sadharan Bima Corporation and Jibon Bima Corporation.
Md Fayekuzzaman, managing director of ICB, said: "The ICB issued a letter to the co-sponsors of the fund to set a board meeting next week in support of the approval for the fund."
The ICB earlier said it will apply for the regulatory approval after the eight participating institutions come up with permissions from their respective boards of directors.
The ICB also took an action plan after sitting on Tuesday with the other members of the demutualisation committee, said Fayekuzzaman, chief of the committee.
"Regulatory reform, asset revaluation and capacity building are on the agenda of the action plan," he said.
"We will sit at another meeting within this month," he added.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith earlier said there is no alternative to demutualisation and it must be completed within the tenure of this government.
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