IPOs worth Rs 2.95 billion in pipeline

KATHMANDU, Feb 3:

Initial public offerings (IPOs) worth Rs 2.95 billion are in the pipeline.

A total of eight companies are waiting for the nod of the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) to go public. Among them, two are hydropower companies, three development banks and one each finance company, investment company and housing company.

Upper Tamakoshi Hydro Power has sought permission to issue the highest units of shares. The hydropower company is preparing to float 25,416,000 units of shares worth Rs 2.54 billion.

Following on the heels of Upper Tamakoshi is NIDC Bank which his preparing to issue 1,841,766 units of shares worth Rs 18.41 million. Similarly, Rajdhani Investment Fund (Rs 123,200,000), Mercantile Finance (Rs 18,000,000) and Mount Makalu Development Bank (Rs 6,000,000) have also applied for approval to go public. Sahara Bikas Bank and City Homes have also sought permission to float shares worth Rs 6,000,000 and Rs 45,000,000 respectively.

“While some of the companies are yet to reply on the comments of the regulatory body on their applications, other are under the review of Sebon´s special committee,” a Sebon official told Rpublica.

In recent years, IPOs have been attracting investors in droves. In the current fiscal year, the IPOs of Mithila Development Bank, Nepal Community Development Bank and Cosmos Development Bank were oversubscribed by 70 times, 4 times and 5.7 times, respectively. They had issued 70,725 units, 300,000 and 175,000 units of shares respectively.

Similarly, the IPO of Laghubitta Bikas Bank, which issued 42,000 units of shares, was oversubscribed by 200 times. The IPO of the youngest commercial bank -- Century Commercial Bank - worth Rs 920 million was oversubscribed by 23 times.

Anjan Raj Poudel, former president of Stock Brokers´ Association of Nepal, told Republica that most of the investors who pour their money into the primary market are from the secondary market. “The price shares go up once they enter the secondary market. That is why investors are attracted toward primary issues,” he observed.

Source: Republica