Century IPO closes today; draws over 6.5 arba in 3 days

Mon, Jan 13, 2014 12:00 AM on IPO/FPO News,

ShareSansar, January 13:

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) worth Rs 92 crore issued by Century Commercial Bank Limited has drawn more than 6.5 arba in three days and has been oversubscribed by more than 7 times in just three days.

The IPO, which was issued from January 9, closes today.

“The IPO has drawn more than Rs 3.5 arba by the third day yesterday,” the official designated by the issue managers to compile the IPO application told ShareSansar today. “If ongoing the rate of collection is anything to go by, we expect additional Rs 6 arba today, which means that the IPO could be oversubscribed by around 15 times.”

Long serpentine queues could be seen in front of all the collection centers on the closing day of the IP0 today.

Century Bank’s IPO was oversubscribed on the first day itself by drawing more than Rs 1 arba and 32 crore on Thursday, and it collected additional Rs 1 arba 64 crores by the second day, on Friday.

Century’s IPO was one of the most expected events in the stock market not just because of its sheer volume but also because it is the last IPO to be issued by any commercial bank of the country.

Nepal Rastra Bank has stopped issuing license to the commercial bank, and, on the contrary, has been directing the commercial banks and other BFIs to seek merger.

The offering was also special in that it was the largest IPO to be issued by any private bank in the country, second only to primary shares worth Rs 96 crore floated by Agriculture Development Bank Limited.

ICRA Nepal had assigned an ‘[ICRANP] IPO Grade 4+’ to Century Bank’s IPO, which is not at all bad by any standards.

Following the IPO, the commercial bank’s paid-up capital of Rs 1.08 billion will rise to Rs two billion, as per the regulatory requirement.

It may be noted that there was a huge response to the IPOs issued by three commercial banks — Civil Bank, Commerz and Trust Bank Nepal and Mega Bank—had issued their IPO over the last one year.

Civil Bank’s IPO was oversubscribed by seven times, Commerz and Trust’s IPO was oversubscribed by 11 times and Mega Bank’s IPO was oversubscribed by 22 times.