Make listing mandatory for state companies

The regulator should make it mandatory for state companies to offload a portion of their shares to public, Rakibur Rahman, outgoing president of Dhaka Stock Exchange, said yesterday.
Part of the government's stakes in multinational companies should also be offloaded to the stockmarket, he said.
Rahman cited the Securities and Exchange Board of India as an example that the regulator has imposed financial penalty on Indian state-owned companies for not offloading shares in the market in a certain time.
“I have requested our regulator to take such an attempt,” Rahman said.
After coming to power in 2009, the government promised to list state-owned companies on the stockmarket, but it is yet to happen.
Rahman shared his views with the media on the last day of his tenure on the DSE. He took the reins of the bourse on March 15 last year.
The DSE is set to get new leadership after the annual general meeting scheduled for Saturday.
Newly elected four directors and eight existing directors will elect a president, a senior vice-president and a vice-president for the next one year. The four directors were elected on Monday.
The DSE board comprises 25 members, of which 12 are elected, 12 are nominated and one is ex-officio. Four directors retire every year and four others replace them through direct voting.
No stockmarket can be stabilised artificially, Rahman said. “Corporate governance and transparency are the main factors for a sustainable market.”
“A strong regulatory monitoring is also a must for a stabilised and sustainable stockmarket,” he said.