The non-resident Bangladeshis can directly invest in the Bangladesh Fund, which was floated last year following the stockmarket debacle.

The NRBs can buy the units of the fund by using their Non-Resident Investors Taka Account (NITA).

The permission came at a meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday with its Chairman M Khairul Hossain in the chair, according to a press statement.

Earlier, ICB Asset Management Company, the issue manager of the fund, requested the regulator to allow investments from the NRBs in the fund.

Before the permission was given, the NRBs were allowed to invest in the open-ended fund as foreign investors.

The government launched the Tk 5,000-crore Bangladesh Fund after the market debacle early last year with the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) as the lead sponsor.

Seven other sponsors were Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Sadharan Bima Corporation and Jibon Bima Corporation.

The sponsors contributed Tk 1,500 crore to the fund, while the rest Tk 3,500 crore are kept for public.

The open-ended mutual fund, a professionally managed collective investment scheme with unlimited lifetime and size, was approved by the SEC on May 4 last year and the public subscription started in October the same year.

The fund manager pools money from many sponsors or investors through its selling agents and invests it in stocks, bonds and short-term money market instruments, and pays out dividends to the unit holders annually.

At yesterday's meeting, the SEC formed two separate committees to modify public issue and rights issue rules.

The panels will advise the commission within the next one month which changes should be brought to the rules.

The two-member committee on public issue rules comprises the commission's Executive Director M Hasan Mahmud and Director Mohammad Rejaul Karim, while the two-member committee on rights issue rules comprises directors Kamrul Anam Khan and Prodip Kumar Basak.

The stockmarket regulator also formed another two-member panel on formulation of a guideline on asset revaluation of listed companies.

The committee, comprising SEC directors Mahbubul Alam and Abul Kalam, will submit a set of recommendations on the guideline to the commission within the next one month.

The SEC also formed a two-member inquiry committee to investigate the irregularities of NBL Securities.

Earlier, the Dhaka Stock Exchange through an investigation found irregularities in the NBL Securities and sent a probe report to the commission.

At the meeting, the regulator also imposed a Tk 1 lakh fine on each managing directors and each directors of Bangla Process Industries and Mita Textile for failing to submit audited financial reports for the year that ended in June 2011 to the commission.

The SEC also gave permission to Baizid Steel Industries, Kores (Bangladesh) and Popular Pharmaceuticals to raise their paid-up capital.

Baizid Steel Industries will issue three crore ordinary shares of Tk 10 each to raise its paid-up capital by Tk 30 crore to Tk 40 crore, while Kores (Bangladesh) will issue 1.3 crore ordinary shares of Tk 10 each to increase its paid-up capital by Tk 13 crore to Tk 23 crore.

Popular Pharmaceuticals will issue 64.61 lakh ordinary shares of Tk 100 each to raise its paid-up capital by Tk 64.61 crore to Tk 119.71 crore.

The SEC also gave a go-ahead to Sk Akijuddin to raise Tk 100 crore through issuing subordinated non-convertible unsecured bond.

With a two-year time for full redemption, only banks and non-banking financial institutions can buy the bond through private placement.

Face value of each unit of the bond will be Tk 1 crore. Race Portfolio and Issue Management is the sole lead arranger of the bond.

At yesterday's meeting, the SEC also extended the subscription period of MTB Unit Fund to January 31 next year.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/21-Nov-12