4.65 lakh general investors avail Robi primary shares
With the completion of the lottery, Robi is now set to debut the country’s stock market with the largest ever IPO in the country’s history
Against 12.8 lakh interested individual investors, 4.65 lakh have won in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) lottery of Robi Axiata Ltd, making them eligible to buy its primary shares.
The IPO lottery draw was held on Thursday at a city hotel.
The lottery was conducted by BUET and overseen by the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL). The entire event was broadcast live on social media platforms.
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Senior officials from BUET, CDBL, local bourses and issue manager IDLC Investments were present at the event.
During the event, Robi's Chief Executive Officer Mahtab Uddin Ahmed thanked investors for their interest in the company shares and acknowledged capital market stakeholders for their support.
He reiterated his demand to the government to rationalise taxes that are eating away most of the profits.
Before filing for IPO, Robi requested for a relief from the 2% minimum tax on turnover, and also to widen the corporate tax benefit to 10% from existing 5%.
Mahtab Uddin further said that the minimum tax on turnover translates into 77% effective tax for Robi, which is 40% for its competitor Grameenphone. When the company was listed more than a decade ago, it got a 10% corporate tax benefit.
If Robi's demands are fulfilled, the company can generate a good return for its shareholders, he added.
With the completion of the lottery, Robi is now set to debut the country's stock market with the largest ever IPO in the country's history.
Robi IPO subscription for general investors began on 17 November and continued till 23 November.
The company is selling primary shares at a face value of Tk10 each to raise a total of Tk524 crore through the IPO. Tk388 crore is being taken from external investors and Tk136 crore from its own employees under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).
Of the offer to the external investors, 40% or Tk155 crore is being collected from eligible institutional investors, where the company received ten times the response than it needed.
Around 1.3 lakh new Beneficiary Owner (BO) accounts were opened in November ahead of the IPO subscription of Robi.
