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Some 12 small-cap companies have showed interest to raise capital through the bourses' SME boards to accelerate their business growth.
The companies expressed their interest Tuesday at a meeting held at the office of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The securities regulator called upon the companies to know their observations along with discussing the rules and regulations of SME board earlier introduced to facilitate the business operations of small-cap companies.
"The SMEs will have a vast scope of contributing in the country's economy in the coming days. We have called the small-cap companies to facilitate their capital raising through the SME board," said Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, commissioner of BSEC.
The representatives of Seba.xyz, Chaldal.com, Zantrik, Landknock, Hello Task, Bondstein Technologies, and Brain Station 23, among others, attended Tuesday's meeting.
BSEC commissioner Mr. Ahmed said the BSEC will extend its helping hand for any eligible small-cap companies willing to expand business operation through the SME board.
"The BSEC will hold another joint meeting with the issuer managers and small cap companies to accelerate the listing of such companies," BSEC commissioner added.
To accelerate the growth of small-cap companies, the securities regulator earlier formulated rules titled Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Qualified Investor Offer by Small Cap Companies) Rules, 2018.
"The companies have showed interest to raise capital through the bourses' SME board. The BSEC has suggested the companies having good position to start the listing process as early as possible," said Mohammad Rezaul Karim, the BSEC spokesperson.
The BSEC spokesperson Mr. Karim said the regulator has suggested the representatives of small-cap companies to strengthen communication with issue managers to accelerate their move for raising capital.
On completion of necessary preparations for the SME boards, the securities regulator held Tuesday's meeting with the representatives of small-cap companies to facilitate their capital raising.
As per the rules formulated for the SME board, the IPO (initial public offering) proposals of small-cap companies will be allowed under both the fixed price and book-building methods.
After raising capital through qualified investor offer (QIO), a company's paid-up capital will be at least Tk 50 million and the figure would not cross Tk 300 million.
According to the rules of the SME Platform, only the qualified investors can submit their intention to subscribe the issue offered by the SMEs for raising fund.
The qualified investors include merchant bankers and portfolio managers, asset management companies, mutual funds and collective investment scheme (CIS), stock dealers, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, alternative investment fund managers, alternative investment funds, market makers, issuer of listed securities, resident or non-resident Bangladeshis, individuals having minimum net worth of Tk 10 million and other institutions as approved by the commission.
Two small-cap companies had earlier submitted IPO proposals for their listing under the SME boards.
The companies are Nialco Alloys and Krishibid Seed. Nialco Alloys has expressed interest to be listed with the SME board of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).
On the other hand, Krishibid Seed has showed interest to be listed with the SME boards of both the bourses.
Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) had introduced the V-Next online platform in May 2019 to attract foreign investors to the small-cap companies.