BSEC okays Tk 500cr bond for Bank Asia

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has approved the proposal of Bank Asia to raise a Tk 500 crore fund from the capital market through the perpetual bond.

The approval came at a commission meeting, said a BSEC statement on Tuesday.

The bank will use the fund to strengthen its additional tier-1 capital base.

According to the commission statement, Tk 450 crore will be raised through private placement and Tk 50 crore through an initial public offering in compliance with the commission’s public offer rules. Its unit price is Tk 5,000.

The coupon rate of the perpetual bond ranges from 6 per cent to 10
per cent.

Financial institutions, mutual funds, insurance companies, scheduled banks, regional rural banks, trust, organizations, corporations and high net-worth individuals are eligible to purchase the bond.

Under the Tier-1 capital, a bank should maintain 6 per cent capital adequacy and Tier-2 it should maintain 4 per cent. 

The commission also approved the prospectus of an open-end called Mercantile Bank Unite Fund.  The initial size of the fund is Tk 50 crore. Of the fund, Mercantile Bank will provide Tk 5 crore as a sponsor and the remaining amount will be raised through IPO. Each unit value of the fund is Tk 10.

National Polymer Industries also got the BSEC nod to raise a Tk 300 crore from the capital market through unsecured, non-cumulative, transferable, redeemable zero-coupon bond bonds. The maturity period of the bond is five years and the yield to maturity is 8 per cent. Per unit price of the bond is Tk 1,000. The fund will be used to pay bank loan repayment, purchase capital machinery and develop infrastructure.