The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved NRB Commercial Bank Limited’s proposal to raise Tk 120 crore from the capital market through an initial public offering. NRBC Bank is the first bank to be listed on the country’s stock market after First Security Islami Bank which was listed in 2008. NRBC Bank will be the 31st listed bank. A BSEC meeting, presided over by its chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, approved the IPO proposal, said a BSEC press release. The bank will float 12 crore shares at an issue price of Tk 10 each. The subscription of the bank’s IPO will begin in February 2021. As per the bank’s IPO prospectus, the IPO proceeds will be used for enhancing the Tier 1 Capital Base of the bank. The bank would invest Tk 110 crore in government securities, Tk 6.05 crore in secondary stock market and use Tk 3.9 crore to bear IPO expenses from the IPO proceeds. The pre-IPO paid up capital of the bank is Tk 582.51 crore, the prospectus said. As per the entity’s audited financial statement for the year ended on June 30, 2020, the bank’s net asset value per share (without valuation) and five years’ weighted average earnings per share were Tk 13.86 and Tk 1.55 respectively. Asian Tiger Capital Partners Investment Limited and AFC Capital Limited are the issue managers of the company. NRBC Bank was incorporated on February 20, 2013 as a public limited company. It has 75 branches, 42 sub-branches, and 583 agent banking partners all over the country. The Bangladesh Bank in 2013 gave licences to nine banks including NRBC Bank on condition that the banks would be listed on the stock exchange within three years of the start of their commercial operations. The other eight banks are Meghna Bank, Midland Bank, Modhumoti Bank, NRB Bank, NRB Global Bank, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank, Farmers Bank (now Padma Bank) and Union Bank. However, no bank complied with the licencing condition. There are 60 scheduled banks operating in Bangladesh. Of them, 30 banks are listed on the stock exchange and the banks hold around 18 per cent of the total market capitalisation. The BSEC at the meeting also allowed Lub-rref Bangladesh Limited to publish its prospectus regarding issuing 4.5 crore shares through an IPO.
