Chattogram bourse ready to help SMEs accumulate capital
Awareness seminar held in Chattogram in cooperation with the BSEC
Small entrepreneurs can easily accumulate capital to grow their business by listing with the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) platform of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).
The announcement came at a seminar organised by the CSE at its Chattogram office on Thursday.
According to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) (Qualified Investors Offer by Small Capital Companies) Rules, 2018, stock exchanges can list deserving small companies with their Small Capital Company Board to help them grow.
In that case, a company's paid-up capital, after raising money through Qualified Investors Offer (QIO), must be above Tk5 crore and below Tk30 crore.
The BSEC includes banks, stock dealers, merchant banks, asset management companies, mutual funds, market makers and some other institutional investors along with individuals having over Tk1 crore in the list of the qualified investors.
The CSE said in a press release that the seminar was targeted for small companies to grow their business through issuing shares instead of borrowing money at high interest from traditional lenders.
After listing with the CSE platform, a small capital company has the opportunity to migrate to the main board of the exchange if its paid-up capital exceeds Tk30 crore.
Among others present in the programme, Mohammed Nazrul Islam, deputy director of the BSEC, highlighted the significant points of the relevant regulations.
CSE's Acting Managing Director Ghulam Faruque, along with his team members, pointed out the potential benefits of listing with the small capital companies' platform.
After listing at the CSE, a small company will have higher brand value and receive tax benefits along with other incentives from different regulators of Bangladesh.
Each listing process is scheduled to be completed within 170 days, CSE officials said.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange also opened its SME board earlier this year and to date, a few small companies have applied to be listed there.
