Walton sponsor SM Rezaul Alam to offload 3 lakh shares

SM Rezaul Alam, a sponsoring director of the local electronics giant Walton Hi-Tech Industries, has announced plans to sell three lakh shares to raise the company's free-float shares to the required 10% level in the secondary market.

Rezaul, who now owns 3.89 crore shares of Walton, expressed his intention to sell some of his shares at the prevailing market price through the public or block market on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) within the next 30 days, according to a disclosure issued at DSE on Thursday (18 April).

Previously, Rezaul sold one lakh shares in the market from his holdings a month ago.

According to company insiders, Walton's sponsor-directors are divesting shares in compliance with the capital market regulator's directive to increase the company's free float shares to a minimum of 10%.

As of 31 March, Walton's free float shares are only 1.10% of its total shares.

In 2021, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) took the initiative to ensure a minimum of 10% free-float shares within a year through offloading sponsor-directors-held shares. Walton had three years to fulfil the requirements.

Free-float shares are listed company shares held by external shareholders who do not need any prior declaration before trading company stocks.

Despite time extension, Walton has been struggling to offload a minimum of 10% stake primarily due to the absence of available buyers.

From August 2022 to February this year, three directors announced plans to sell around 6.75 lakh shares from their holdings, but they were only able to sell around 2.63 lakh shares before March, according to the company's monthly shareholding reports.

On Thursday, Walton's share price closed at Tk646.3 each on the DSE.