Nepal Bank rights auction oversubscribed

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Bank Ltd (NBL)’s auction of its unsold rights shares got oversubscribed by three and a half times.

The bank got 1100 bids for the unsubscribed 2.49 million units of rights shares from the public.

The bank had asked for sealed quotations from interested investors from September 16 to 24.

“Interested investors had bid for 8.9 million unit shares at a price of Rs 135 to Rs 180 in a sealed tender document,” informed CEO of Civil Capital Market — the issue manager — Bhishma Chalise.

NBL had launched its rights issue for 36.1 million units at 1:9.5 ratio from May 23 to July 11 for shareholders. The issue was supposed to be closed by June 26. However, the bank and rights issue managers postponed the closure date to July 11 as the subscription fell short by less than half a million rupees.

Despite the extension of the issue period, shareholders only subscribed for 33.6 million units.

Nepal Bank’s shares are currently being traded at around Rs 160 at Nepal Stock Exchange. The bank’s Earning Per Share (EPS) stands at Rs 208.08, but its net worth is still negative, according to its fourth quarter financials.

The government owns 38.6 per cent stake in the bank, while the rest of the stake is owned by the general public, different companies and the bank’s employees.

Source: THT