Robi likely to be listed soon: BSEC chief

Robi, a multinational telecom operator, is likely to be listed on the stock exchanges within the shortest possible time frame, BSEC Chairman Prof M Khairul Hossain said on Monday.

"The issue is under discussion. The company told us that it wants to be listed on the stock exchanges after the ongoing problems facing the telecom operators get resolved," he said.

Pro Khairul made the remarks at the inaugural ceremony of the World Investors Week 2019 at the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) office in the city.

He said they held a discussion to end the row between the telecom regulator and Grameenphone and Robi.

"Robi has expressed its intension to go public under the book-building method. But we have suggested that the company should strengthen its financial statement," he added.

Meanwhile, the DSE also arranged a programme titled 'Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy' to mark the World Investors Week.

Speaking at the event, Minhaz Mannan Emon, a director of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), said the capital market needs good companies under which the investors will feel such comfort and satisfaction like sitting in the shade of a healthy tree.

He said this referring to Warren Buffett's quotation used in the keynote speech of the programme held on the DSE premises.

Buffett's quotation reads, "Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long time ago."

Emon said Buffett's quotation should have been the motto of the country's capital market.

He said the meaning of the Buffets quotation is that the companies which will be listed now will be turned into big trees in the future for the investors.

"But the truth is that many of the companies which are being listed have no shade; their leaves even are not found," Emon said while stressing the importance of financial literacy for general investors.

Dr. Swapan Kumar Bala, a commissioner of the securities regulator, said the weaknesses of the parties involved with the IPOs (initial public offering) should be identified.

"The IPO-related problems can be reduced if the relevant parties such issue managers, auditors and valuers play their due roles," said Bala who attended the programme as THE chief gust.

He also said the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approves the role-based IPO proposals.

"The securities regulator has also responsibility for the IPOs. But the BSEC alone cannot identify irregularities due to role-based process of approving IPOs," Bala said.

The TREC (Trading Right Entitlement Certificate) holders have the scope to discourage investors in case of applying for the shares of the companies with weak fundamentals.

Md Shakil Rizvi, a DSE director and former president, said financial literacy programes should be arranged for the officials who operate the capital market.

DSE Chairman Prof Abul Hashem and managing director (in-charge) Abdul Matin Patwary also spoke at the programme, while the company secretary Mohammad Asadur Rahman presented his keynote speech.

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