Meghna Petroleum makes stock debut today

Trading of shares in Meghna Petroleum, a state-owned enterprise, begins on Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges today.
The ICB Securities Trading Company, issue manager of 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.
Meghna will release 12 lakh shares worth Tk 12 crore, 30 percent of the company's paid up capital, through direct listing rules. The face value of each share has been fixed at Tk10.
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 shares.
Buyers will be allowed to place an order of minimum 100 shares (one lot) or maximum 500 shares (five lots) at a time on the first seven trading days. No investor will be allowed to sell any shares during the first two days (on spot market).After the first two days' spot trading, the company shares will be traded on the public market. Odd and Block market operations will start with normal trading from the 8th trading day.
Meghna is a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. The activities of the company include procurement, storage and marketing of petroleum oil and lubricant products, bitumen and LPG in Bangladesh.
This is the fourth government entity, which got listed with the bourses under the direct listing regulations.
Earlier, Jamuna Oil Company started offloading its shares on the stock exchanges on January 9, while Dhaka Electric Supply Company and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh offloaded their shares on the bourses in 2006.
Meanwhile, price indices on the stock exchanges rose yesterday.
The DSE General Index increased by 21.83 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 3014.99 points, while the DSE All Share Price Index rose by 18.3 points, or 0.72 percent, to finish at 2541.04 points.
The CSE Selective Categories Index also rose by 41.15 points, or 0.84 percent, finishing at 4925.78 points, while the CSE All Share Price Index increased by 58.18 points, or 0.76 percent, ending at 7663.74 points.