BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Fund's public shares have received huge local and foreign responses, the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) says.

ICB managing director Mohammad Fayekuzzaman told on Saturday, "I went abroad and talked to many non-resident Bangladeshis. Besides those, I also talked to many people and organisations in the country and got huge responses on this fund."

The sale of public shares worth Tk 35 billion might start from Oct 10, Fayekuzzaman said.

State-run ICB announced on Mar 6 the creation of this Tk 50 billion syndicated fund as part of measures to give the share market a shot in the arm, which has been reeling from repeated shocks.

Eight entrepreneurs of the fund had already pumped in Tk 15 billion and the rest will be collected from the market.

Earlier he told journalists on Sept 19, "We expect to start selling the public shares of Bangladesh Fund from Oct 2."

When asked about the rescheduling of the issue date, he said, "We are planning to inaugurate the sale of the shares in a big way. So we deferred the opening date."

"We plan to invest the entire fund of worth Tk 35 billion in the stock market," he said.

Besides ICB, the other co-sponsors of the fund are the four state-owned banks (Sonali, Rupali, Agrani and Janata), and Sadharan Bima Corporation, Jiban Bima Corporation and Bangladesh Development Bank Limited.

Fayekuzzaman said, "Almost all of the entrepreneurial part of the contingency fund—Tk 15 billion—has already been invested in the stock market."