Grameenphone Gets Approval For Largest IPO In Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Grameenphone (GP) Limited received approval from the capital market watchdog Thursday to raise $70.44 million (BDT 4.860 billion) issuing its initial public offering (IPO), the largest of its kind in Bangladesh.

The total size of the GP issue is going to be $122.61 million (BDT 8.460 billion), of which 58.8 per cent or $70.44 million (BDT 4.860 billion) would be sold to general investors and 41.2 per cent or $52.16 million (BDT 3.599 billion) for institutions, officials said.

The approval comes after conclusion of a positive dialogue between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh and Grameenphone in recent weeks, the country's leading mobile phone operator said.

"We are very pleased to have received the official consent from the SEC on Tuesday and look forward to an expeditious launching of the public offer and successful listing of our shares in country's bourses" said Grameenphone Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oddvar Hesjedal said in a press statement in Dhaka.

The CEO also said: "We (Grameenphone) are ready and will be following a fast process for fulfilling of certain necessary conditions and formalities."

The GP filed its final IPO application with the SEC in December 2008 and had submitted the final prospectus in January 2009. Notably the valuation of the company and the offer price remains unchanged, as per the original application, according to the statement.

Citigroup Global Markets Bangladesh Private Limited will continue to be the private placement agent, issue manager and lead underwriter for our pre-IPO and IPO.

"This is going to be the biggest issue and it will make the market stable. It will send positive signals to other big companies who have until now been reluctant to list their companies," Executive Director of the SEC Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan told reporters in the capital, Dhaka.

Norway's telecom giant Telenor owns 62 percent of the GP, which was launched in 1997, while the remaining 38 percent is held by local Grameen Telecom. The share offloading will be proportionately spread between the two shareholders.

The GP is the country's market leader among six mobile operators having 21.05 million subscribers, followed by Banglalink's 10.95 million, and AKTEL's 8.84 million as of May 2009, according to statistics.