Fifteen new securities were listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchanges this year that raised over Tk 1,000 crore through initial public offerings.
Of the new securities, 14 were equity stocks that raised Tk 833 crore and two were mutual funds worth Tk 100 crore each, according to DSE statistics.
With the inclusion of the new securities, the total number of listed securities on the DSE currently stands at 529.
In 2012, 14 securities, 10 equity securities and four mutual funds, were listed on the stockmarket, raising Tk 1,570 crore from the public through IPOs.
Pricing of the new securities in the secondary market was better than the previous year, as the market was in recovery, breaking the previous two years’ downward trend from the market crash in early 2011.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 3.5 percent to reach 4,200 points till Thursday.
“The IPOs were oversubscribed manifold, while stock pricing in the secondary market was better this year than the previous year,” said Akter H Sannamat, managing director of Union Capital, a merchant bank and non-bank financial institution.
One of the main responsibilities of a merchant bank is to bring new securities into the market.
Sannamat hopes better days are ahead as many companies are interested in coming to the market to raise working capital.
“The number of IPOs will increase in the coming year,” he said.
The regulator’s ongoing restructuring processes will encourage entrepreneurs to come to the market.
Source: The Daily Star
