The chairman of Chittagong Stock Exchange & former president, DCCI Asif Ibrahim on Wednesday invited UK companies to invest in the Bangladesh capital market. He also urged more Bangladeshi corporates to raise finance utilizing 'Bangla Bond' in the London Stock Exchange.
He was addressing a webinar on "Exploring Trade & FDI Opportunities with the UK", arranged by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) through zoom.
Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, State Minister for Foreign Affairs joined the webinar as the chief guest. British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Chatterton Dickson and Bangladesh High Commissioner to UK Saida Muna Tasneem also joined as special guests. DCCI President Shams Mahmud moderated the webinar. Dr. Selim Raihan, Executive Director, SANEM presented the keynote paper.
The CSE chairman said stock markets in Bangladesh are being automated with increased depth.
Bangla Bond was listed on the London Stock Exchange in mid-November of 2019 which received 30 percent oversubscription.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing wing of the World Bank Group, issued its inaugural bond in Bangladeshi taka, raising Tk800 million - equivalent to approximately $9.5 million.
The three-year bond was placed with asset managers dedicated to emerging markets. The deal was arranged by Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Experts are optimistic to see the good start of local currency-denominated fund-raising from the international debt market.
"Bangla Bond has introduced the Bangladeshi currency in the international debt market and it has set a benchmark of expected return from all the taka-denominated bonds which may be offered to the international investors in coming days," according to market insiders.
The IFC, with its AAA credit rating, offered investors a 6.3 percent interest rate annually for a three-year tenure, according to IFC.
The IFC will use the bond proceeds to finance the Pran Group in order to boost their agro-processing capacities and expand the rural distribution reach.
Based on such a need, the IFC intends to collect more money through extending the Bangla Bond up to $1.0 billion.