Demutualised Dhaka Stock Exchange has invited foreign and local entities to purchase 25 per cent share of the bourse under the Demutualisation Act 2013.
The bourse, which has already got response from a number of foreign and local organisations in this regard but is yet to be satisfied with the proposals they have made, on Monday published an advertisement in a national daily along with its own web site, seeking application from interested organisations.
The DSE move came just one and a half months before the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission-set deadline to find a strategic investor for the bourse.
A DSE director told New Age that the bourse floated the invitation to give its strategic-investor searching activities a formal shape.
The DSE, the country’s premier bourse, turned into a demutualised stock exchange on November 21, 2013.
In December 9, 2015, the BSEC asked the bourse along with the Chittagong Stock Exchange, another bourse of the country, to get
strategic investor within one year.
According to the DSE advertisement, in pursuant with the requirement of demutualisation act and with a vision to be the leading exchange in the region and a key driver of the economic growth, the DSE is seeking potential strategic investors locally and internationally.
The potential strategic investors are expected to have, among others, strategic fit, value proposition balanced with strategic consideration and cultural compatibility, it said.
Internationally renowned investment banks and local institutions in collaboration with renowned international investment banks may submit expression of interest to act as agent for the purpose, said the DSE.
Interested potential strategic investors or agents have been requested to submit sealed EOI within November 15.
A senior DSE official on Sunday told New Age that the bourse decided to find a good strategic partner for it rather than just completing the process without protecting shareholders’ interest.
In September this year, DSE managing director KAM Majedur Rahman had told New Age that a number of foreign financial organisations and local firms showed interest in investing in the DSE to become the strategic investor of the bourse.
A consortium of World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, German development bank KfW, Commonwealth Development Corporation, US-based NASDAQ, Sweden-based Brummer & Partners and Bangladeshi Square Group were among the organisations which expressed primary interest in becoming the strategic partner.
Ernst & Young, a multinational professional services firm, also made presentation before the bourse earlier while PricewaterhouseCoopers, another multinational professional services network, also made a presentation in this connection.
Source: New Age