The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has withdrawn the suspension of trading of Khulna Power Company Ltd (KPCL) on Sunday, with immediate effect.
The board of directors of the DSE took the decision at a meeting held on Sunday morning.
“The DSE withdrew the suspension as Summit Corporation, the corporate sponsor director of the company has decided to sell their remaining 15,904,435 shares (out of 18,064,235 shares as per declaration disseminated on 04.11.2018) in the block market instead of public market,” said a disclosure posted on the DSE website Sunday.
Earlier on November 7, the board of directors of the DSE had suspended the trading of Khulna Power just three days after a corporate sponsor of the electricity producer announced to go for selling off 18,064,235 shares in the public market.
The announcement of the sell-off came at a time when KPCL’s share price almost doubled—from Tk 67 to Tk 139.3—in a gap of only two months.
“There was gap of information in the declaration disseminated to sell the shares by the corporate director of the KPCL. The DSE suspended the company’s share trading considering the interest of investors,” said DSE managing director K A M Majedur Rahman on that day.
The prime bourse said that such a huge sell-off through the public market instead of block market may affect the general investors.
The company’s share trading remained suspended on Wednesday and Thursday last following the decision.
The power generation company KPCL, which was listed on the Dhaka bourse in 2010, recommended 30 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2018.
The company disbursed 55 per cent cash dividend in 2017.
The share price of the company traded between Tk 98.40 and Tk 108.20 in the first hour of trading on Sunday.
The company's paid-up capital is Tk 3.61 billion and authorised capital is Tk 7.0 billion, while the total number of securities is 361.28 million, DSE data shows.
The sponsor-directors own 70.59 per cent stake in the company, while the institutional investors own 9.44 per cent, foreign investors 0.76 per cent, and the general public 19.21 per cent as on September 30, 2018.
