The Dhaka Stock Exchange on Monday decided to float tender for appointing a consultant for demutualisation of the bourse.
The decision of floating the tender for consultant — a merchant bank or any foreign investment bank — was made at a DSE board meeting held in its office on the day.
The DSE board also decided to appoint A Qasem and Company as auditor and Rahman and Rahman Haq as a revaluation company of the bourse, a DSE source told New Age.
The DSE source said the board also decided to maintain the timeframe of demutualisation.
As per the demutualisation act, which was passed in parliament on April 29, the DSE will have to submit the scheme and business plan to the regulator within 90 days after a gazette notification of the act.
After receiving the demutualisation scheme from the bourses, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulator, will approve it within 60 days.
Stock exchange members or brokerage houses will hold 40 per cent shares after the demutualisation of a bourse.
The rest 60 per cent will be kept for trading right entitlement certificate holders, strategic investors and individuals.
Strategic investors will not be allowed to hold more than 25 per cent shares of a stock exchange, while no individual will hold more than 5 per cent.
The act has paved the way for separating the bourses’ management from ownership to ensure transparency and accountability in the stock market.
The demutualisation act says independent experts will hold the posts of chairmen of the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges, not the owners-cum-directors of the bourses.
The BSEC will formulate the rules for appointing independent experts as bourse directors while capital market experts will apply to the commission for appointment as members of the boards of directors of the stock exchanges.
The management of a stock exchange must hold elections to its board of directors within 90 days from the date of its demutualisation.
-With New Age input
