Ashuganj Power recommends 8.50% coupon rate

Ashuganj Power Station Company Limited (APSCL) has recommended an 8.50% rate for APSCL non-convertible and fully redeemable coupon bearing bond for the first year.

The first-year period is from 5 January this year to 4 January, 2021. 

The record date for entitlement of the bond's coupon rate profit was set for 4 January, 2021.

Last year, the company issued bonds worth Tk500 crore through private placements among state-owned banks and financial institutions to finance its 400MW power plant, which is now under construction.

Acting upon the government's advice to increase tradable bonds on stock exchanges, bonds worth Tk100 crore were sold to general investors through an initial public offering (IPO), with a face value of Tk5,000 per unit.

With a tenure of seven years, the bonds offer an interest rate ranging from 8.50% to 10.50%. They have been traded on the secondary market of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). 

After the news was revealed on the DSE website, the unit price of the bond came down by 2% to Tk5,220 on Sunday. The closing price of the bonds was set at Tk5,207 per unit.

Meanwhile, the company has not finalised its financial report for fiscal year 2019-20 yet.

In the first three quarters of that fiscal year, revenue increased by 4% to Tk1,809.77 crore, but net profit decreased by 5% to Tk312.91 crore.

In the 2018-19 financial year, the company paid 6% cash dividend to its shareholders, which was 5% in the previous year.

The company had maintained its track record of paying dividends uninterruptedly for the last eight years.

Ashuganj Power is one of the largest power generation companies in Bangladesh. It holds the capacity to generate about 17% of the total electricity generation capacity in the country's public sector.

The company generates about 8.76% of the total electricity generated in the country.

At present, the total capacity of its eight units is 1,690MW.

The company has four upcoming projects with a power generation capacity of 4,440MW.