Century IPO oversubscribed by over 3 times in two days; draws Rs 3.07 arba

ShareSansar, January 12:

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) worth Rs 92 crore issued by Century Commercial Bank Limited from January 9 to 13 has been oversubscribed by more than three times in two days.

“Century Bank’s IPO was oversubscribed in the first day itself as we collected more than Rs 1 arba and 32 crore  on Thursday,” the official designated by the issue managers to compile the IPO application told ShareSansar today. “By the second day, on Friday, we collected additional Rs 1 arba 64 crores.”

The issuance of the primary shares closes on Monday.

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.