No Mutual Fund Under Tk 50 Crore

The Securities and Exchange Commission from now on will not allow any mutual fund worth below Tk 50 crore. The commission took the decision at a meeting on Sunday, said a senior official of the stock market regulatory body. He said the step would strengthen the mutual fund sector.
The SEC’s move came following a proposal from the Dhaka Stock Exchange on what should be the lowest worth of a mutual fund of getting SEC approval. The premier bourse, however, had proposed that mutual fund of below Tk 100 crore should not be allowed. A number of mutual funds are waiting for the approval of the SEC for raising funds through issuing initial public offerings with a number of financial institutions recently decided to float mutual funds. Currently, a total of 17 mutual funds are listed with the bourses. Of them, ICB and its subsidiaries have managed 13 mutual funds, AIMS Bangladesh three and BSRS (Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha), and Prime Finance have one each.
Meanwhile, the subscription of IPO of ICB AMCL 2nd Mutual Fund began on Sunday and will finish on August 16. For the non-resident Bangladeshis, the closing date will be on August 25. The mutual fund, sponsored by ICB Capital Management Ltd, will float 50 lakh shares of Tk 100 each totalling Tk 50 crore. Resident Bangladeshis will get units worth Tk 30 crore, while units worth Tk 5 crore will be reserved for NRBs, and another Tk 5 crore for mutual funds. Sponsors will get units worth Tk 10 crore. ICB Asset Management Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, is working as asset manager of the fund.