Dhaka, Wednesday August 19 2009
EBL First Mutual Fund will make debut on DSE and CSE today (Wednesday) under the trading code of 'EBL1STMF'.
The RACE Management, the second generation asset management company, has received formal permission from both the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) for beginning share trading of the fund, says its press release Tuesday.
The Mutual Fund worth Tk 1.0 billion will be the 18th such fund listed with the bourses. Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL), a private commercial bank, is the sponsor while RACE is the issue manager. Per unit price of the fund is Tk 10.
Initial public offering (IPO) of the fund was oversubscribed by 17 times against 20 per cent allocated for public. Sixty per cent of fund has been kept for pre-IPO placement and the rest 20 per cent for sponsor.
Subscription was opened on June 21 last and closed on June 25 for resident Bangladeshis and on July 4 for non-residence Bangladeshis. Currently, there are 17 listed mutual funds with the DSE, having a total issued paid-up capital of $48 million or Tk 3316 million.
Meanwhile, RACE Management is likely to float six mutual funds within one year in a bid to create further demand for quality shares in the market.
"We have a plan to bring six more mutual funds, mostly sponsored by banks, in near future," Hasan Imam, CEO and managing director of RACE, told a press meet in a city hotel Monday. "Besides, we have also plan to bring new products in years to come," he added.
EBL First Mutual Fund worth Tk 1.0 billion, sponsored by Eastern Bank Limited, is the first such fund managed by the RACE. It was oversubscribed by 17 times against 20 per cent initial public offering.
Presently, RACE is working on three mutual funds, which are being sponsored by Trust Bank, IFIC Bank and EXIM Bank.
It obtained licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year and was formed by a group of professionals with many years of investment management and capital market research experience.
Hasan, who has a 10-year working experience in the US financial sector (Wall Street), also sees a great potential in the local mutual fund industry, as the mutual funds' market capitalisation in Bangladesh is less than three percent. |
