SBAC Bank gets BSEC approval to raise Tk100cr by IPO

The securities regulator has allowed South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce (SBAC) Bank to raise Tk100 crore with an initial public offering (IPO).

The shares will be offered to the public at a face value of Tk10 each and the private sector lender will use the funds to cover IPO expenses and buy government securities.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approved the IPO at a meeting on Sunday.

The bank will not be able to declare or approve dividends before listing on the capital market.

SBAC Bank, which was incorporated in February 2013, is going public in order to comply with a regulatory requirement to do so.

The principal activities of the bank are to provide a comprehensive range of financial services: personal and commercial banking, trade services, cash management, treasury operations, as well as security and custody services.

SBAC Bank Chairman, SM Amzad Hossain, owns 3.21% of the shares of the financial institution and his wife Begum Sufia Amjad, also a director of the lender, owns 3.36% of the shares.

Both of them are also directors of the listed company Khulna Printing and Packaging Ltd, which is a losing concern of the Lockpur Group.

The company raised Tk40 crore from the stock market in 2014.

In the first nine months of 2020, the net profit of the bank was Tk64.57 crore, which was Tk66.96 crore in the same period of the previous year.

During the period, its earnings per share stood at Tk0.94, down from Tk0.98 a year ago.

As per the prospectus, the interest income of the bank was Tk463.81 crore and investment income was Tk139.99 crore in the first three quarters of last year.

Its five years weighted average earnings per share was Tk1.24.

The bank's authorised capital is Tk1,000 crore and paid-up capital is Tk684.64 crore.

The lender has been doing business at all of its 82 branches and six sub-branches across Bangladesh.

ICB Capital Management is the issue manager of the bank.