Associated Oxygen to issue Tk250cr bond for fresh investment

ASSOCIATED OXYGEN AT A GLANCE

• It raised Tk15cr from the stock market in 2020
• 75% of the IPO fund has been used so far 
• July-March FY22 revenue, profit and EPS was Tk41.33cr, Tk14.67cr and Tk1.34 respectively  
• Each share closed at Tk36.50 on Sunday

Associated Oxygen Ltd – a producer and supplier of industrial and medical gas – plans to make a fresh investment of Tk250 crore after raising the fund with a convertible bond.  

The company, which is listed on the capital market, has already entered into an agreement with Janata Capital and Investment Limited as the fund arranger.

Associated Oxygen will now take approval from its general shareholders at an annual general meeting (AGM).

After that, the company will apply to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) for its nod to issue the bond.

Associated Oxygen, which produces and supplies gas products for the last three decades, entered the capital market in 2020 by raising Tk15 crore to expand its business.

But as of June 2022, the company has been able to use 75% of its initial public offering (IPO) fund and is yet to import machinery.

Md Delwar Hossain, the chief financial officer of the gas producer, declined to make any comment in this regard.

The market regulator had earlier imposed an embargo on the pre-IPO shares for beneficiary owner (BO) accounts of the company. The four BO accounts together hold 98 lakh of its shares.

Currently, the company has a capacity of 2,500 cubic metres per hour of oxygen/nitrogen gases and 2,00,000 cubic metres per annum capacity of dissolved acetylene gas at its factory in Sitakunda Upazila of Chattogram.

In the July-March period of fiscal 2021-22, its revenue was Tk41.33 crore, compared to Tk42 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Its net profit stood at Tk14.67 crore, down from Tk15.37 crore in FY21.

Its earnings per share were Tk1.34 and its net asset value per share stood at Tk18.10 as of December 2021.

Incorporated in 1990, the company went into commercial operation in 1992.

On Sunday, its shares closed at Tk36.50 each on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

As of 30 September this year, sponsors and directors jointly held 30.65%, institutions 25.69%, foreign investors 0.09% and general investors 43.57% shares of the company.