Jamuna, Meghna make stock debut Jan 9, 14

Shares in state-owned enterprises Jamuna Oil Company Ltd and Meghna Petroleum Ltd will make the debut on Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges on January 9 and 14 respectively.
The announcement came at a press conference on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) premises yesterday.
Jamuna will release 13.50 lakh shares worth Tk 13.50 crore, while Meghna will release 12 lakh shares worth Tk 12 crore. The face value of each share has been fixed at Tk10. The shares to be offloaded through direct listing rules with Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges amount to 30 percent of the two companies' paid-up capital.
The initiative is a part of the government's broader goal to corporatise state-owned entities in an effort to increase their efficiency.
The ICB Securities Trading Company Ltd, issue manager of both Jamuna and Meghna, will offload shares on the first two days of trading for two hours a day. Normal trading will start on the fourth day, as there will be no trading on the third day.
Prospective investors will offer prices for buying shares in the first 10 minutes of the first trading day. Based on the offered price, the ICB Securities will start selling of shares with best market price.
Buyers will be allowed to place a minimum order for 100 shares (one lot) with a maximum order for 500 shares (five lots) at a time on the first seven trading days. No investors will be allowed to sell any shares during the first two days (on spot market).
After first two days' spot trading, both the companies will be traded on the public market. Odd and Block market operations will start with normal trading from 8th trading day from the debut-trading day.
At the press conference, a listing agreement was signed between DSE and Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum. DSE Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Ullah and Jamuna's Company Secretary Nazmul Haque and Meghna's Company Secretary Syed Ashrafuzzaman signed the deal on behalf of their organisations.
Energy Adviser Tapan Chowdhury, Secretary to the Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources Mohammad Mohsin, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) Managing Director Ziaul Haque Khondker, Jamuna Chairman Wahidunnabi Choudhury, Meghna Chairman Anwarul Karim, DSE President Abdullah Bokhari, Vice President Ahmad Rashid Lali and Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan were present at the function.
The energy adviser hoped that shares of a good number of SoEs, including the entities in the power and energy sector, will be offloaded within this year.
The SEC chief said with offloading of the two oil companies' shares in the capital market will help reduce the present supply-demand mismatch as seen by investors.
The business of Jamuna Oil, which has been functioning as a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) since its inception, includes procurement, storage and marketing of petrol, diesel, kerosene, bitumen, octane, furnace oil, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the country.
Meghna is also a subsidiary of BPC.