The finance ministry has released Tk 284.76 crore for subscribing rights shares of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, a state-owned entity listed with the capital market.
The Finance Division of the ministry on December 10 released the fund after the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on August 12 this year had allowed the ICB to issue rights shares, a finance ministry letter said.
As per the BSEC approval, the ICB will issue one rights share against its existing two shares.
To subscribe rights shares, the finance ministry allowed the ICB to use Tk 68.34 crore from the government’s dividend portion that was issued by the ICB in the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, while the rest amount to be required to subscribe rights shares, Tk 216.42 crore, was released from the government’s budget allocation for banks’ capital restructure investment segment, the ministry letter said.
The ministry letter also asked the ICB to comply with three conditions in using the fund — depositing dividends against the government’s shares in time, following proper rules and using the fund properly mentioned by the ICB.
The ICB will raise Tk 1,054.68 crore by issuing rights shares for repayment of loans and for investment in the primary and secondary markets.
The government holds 27 per cent stake in the ICB, while institutional investors hold 70.82 per cent and retail investors 2.18 per cent stake in the entity.
The ICB earlier in 2000 issued 1.5 rights shares against 1 share of the organisation after its enlistment with the capital market in 1977.
-With New Age input
