The New Nation - Internet Edition

bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to bar mutual funds from issuing any right or bonus share, an official said Thursday. The capital market regulator will seek public opinions for the decision through a media announcement, SEC executive director Farhad Ahmed told reporters in his office. Asked the reason behind the move, Farhad evaded a direct answer but said: "There are some ambiguities in the law about MFs. We are trying to remove the ambiguities." Meanwhile, mutual-fund operators said they had no problem with the decision as close-end mutual funds cannot issue stock dividends by definition. "Close-end mutual funds by definition can only increase its paid-up capital through revised redemption. So there's no scope to issue stock dividends," Yaweer Sayeed, CEO of a private asset management company told bdnews24.com. He however said investors might not view the regulatory move positively. "Any review just two days before the closing of accounts of mutual funds may not be viewed as investor-friendly," said Sayeed, who operates two mutual funds. The top official of AIMS of Bangladesh reiterated that they had no problem if the decision was in force. The stock market regulator approved the IPO of Standard Insurance worth Tk 9 crore. The company's authorised capital is Tk 30 crore, while its paid-up capital is Tk 6 crore. "Net asset value (NAV) and earnings per share (EPS) of the issue is Tk 126.70 and Tk 19.52," said Farhad Ahmed.

The SEC also approved another IPO worth Tk 8 crore of Mack Son Spinning Mills. The company received regulatory nod to float 80 lakh shares each at Tk 10. NAV and EPS as of Dec 31, 2007 of the company are Tk 11.74 and Tk 10.69. ICB Capital Management is the issue manager for both IPOs.