Power Grid Company to offload nearly 7 crore shares
In the first nine months of fiscal year 2019-20, the amount of PGCB’s profit was Tk298.20 crore and earnings per share was Tk4.18
The Power Development Board has got permission to offload about seven crore shares of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) Limited, a state-owned company listed on the stock exchange.
The offloading accounts for 9.64% of the total shares owned by PGCB. The finance ministry gave the nod to the proposal of the Power Development Board on Tuesday.
PGCB got listed on the stock exchange in 2006 when the company offloaded 15.36% of its shares.
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Power Grid Company Secretary Jahangir Azad told The Business Standard, "We have yet to get the approval letter from the finance ministry. After offloading 9.64% of its shares, PGCB will have a further 75% stake. The shares will be sold at the current market price."
The issue of offloading more shares of the existing companies came to the fore at the beginning of the current year in order to cut the capital market recession and revive confidence among the investors.
At a meeting with the managing directors of 14 companies in power and energy sectors in February, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal suggested listing some companies on the stock exchange and offloading some more shares of a few listed companies.
A number of state-owned companies have been listed on the capital market. The Ministry of Finance allowed only Power Grid Company to offload its shares.
According to data till September 30 this year, the total shares of PGCB are 712,726,991. It has 84.64% of the shares which are 603,200,125. Of these, 68,706,881 shares will be offloaded.
The incumbent investors have 15.36% of shares. Of these, institutional investors have 12.21% while foreigners have 0.14% and the general investors have 3.01%.
On Wednesday, PGCB's share price on the Dhaka Stock Exchange was Tk47.90. Offloading at this price will fetch Tk3,291,059,599 from the sale of the proposed shares.
PGCB is a profitable company which has been consistently making profit. In fiscal year 2019-20, the company made a profit of Tk383.99 crore while the shareholders were given 20% cash dividends.
In the first nine months of fiscal year 2019-20, the amount of PGCB's profit was Tk298.20 crore and the earnings per share (EPS) was Tk4.18.
