Orascom's Bangladesh unit working on IPO

Dhaka: The Bangladesh unit of Egyptian mobile firm Orascom Telecom is working on an initial public offering (IPO), the head of the Dhaka Stock Exchange said, potentially giving a boost to the country's tiny market.

Banglalink, Bangladesh's second-biggest mobile operator by subscribers, would be the second operator to list on the bourse after the top operator Grameenphone raised $70 million in an IPO last year.

"The company [Banglalink] is working to be listed on the stock exchange. I have been informed by the company secretary that it would go for an IPO without issuing a pre-IPO private placement," Mohammad Shakil Rizvi, president of Dhaka Stock Exchange, told Reuters yesterday.

The company is expected to be listed on the $40 billion exchange next year.

Grameenphone, majority owned by Norway's Tele-nor had also raised $70 million in a pre-IPO private placement in 2008. Its IPO last year was the stock exchange's biggest.