Bangladesh::Bangladesh Fund gets go-ahead


Bangladesh
Bangladesh Fund gets go-ahead
Stockmarket regulator on Monday approved Tk 5,000 crore ‘Bangladesh Fund’. In a move aimed at revitalising the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Tk 50-billion 'Bangladesh Fund'.

Market regulator's spokesperson Saifur Rahman told journalists that the fund was approved in a meeting on Monday.

He said, "The trust deed and investment management agreement of the Bangladesh Fund proposed by the ICB (Investment Corporation of Bangladesh) were approved in the meeting."

The ICB on Mar 6 announced to float the fund and asked for the SEC approval on Mar 29.

Saifur said the fund would be floated in the market when the trustee deed was submitted to the SEC.

He said ICB Capital Management was acting as the trustee and custodian of the fund while ICB Asset Management Limited was given the charge of managing the fund.

He said the SEC rejected the ICB proposal to keep 10 percent of every new initial public offer (IPO) in the fund.

"The SEC did not agree to decrease registration fee and annual charge to renew registrations," Saifur said.

He said SEC approved to invest 75 percent of the fund in the country's share market and the rest in any other sector.

In the wake of continued fall in share prices, the ICB decided to float the Tk 50-billion 'open-ended mutual fund' to restore stability and regain retail investors' confidence in the market.

ICB managing director Mohammed Fayekuzzaman told bdnews24.com that face value of every unit of Bangladesh Fund would be Tk 100 and the market lot 1,000 per unit.

The ICB top boss said his organisation would contribute Tk 5 billion to the fund followed by Sonali Bank and Janata Bank Tk 2 billion each, Agrani Bank and Jiban Bima Corporation Tk 1.5 billion each, and Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank and Sadharan Bima Corporation Tk 1 billion each.

The rest of the money would be raised later, he informed.

A provision is also there allowing private banks, financial institutions or entrepreneurs and expatriates to contribute to the fund.
The much-talked open-ended mutual fund will be a professionally managed collective investment scheme with an unlimited lifetime and size.
The fund was approved in a meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Saifur Rahman, SEC executive director, said at a press briefing in the afternoon.
Money will be collected from sponsors or investors through sales agents and will be invested in stocks, bonds and short-term money market instruments. It will also pay out dividends to the unit holders annually.
The initial size of the fund will be Tk 1,500 crore and the rest will be collected from the capital market. The face value of the fund is Tk 100.
Seventy-five percent of the fund will be invested in capital market while 25 percent will be invested in the money market.

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