Grameenphone is officially on the stock market. Some of the guests attending the ceremony were (from the left): Hilde Tonne, vice-president of Telenor, Oddvar Hesjedal, CEO Grameenphone, Ingebjørg Støfring, Norway's ambassador to Bangladesh, Per-Erik Hylland, vice-president of Telenor, and Md. Rakibur Rahman, president of Dhaka Stock Exchange. Photo: Telenor ASAHistoric event: Grameenphone listed on the stock exchange
22/11/2009 //
At 11am on Monday the 16th November, Grameenphone was formally listed on the Bangladeshi stock exchange. With the listing, the number of shareholders in the company has increased from just two to almost 320 000. This is the largest stock exchange quotation in the history of Dhaka Stock Exchange. The Norwegian telecom group Telenor is the majority owner of Grameenphone, and their share is now 56%.
The long-awaited formal stock exchange quotation of Grameenphone on the 16th November took place in parallel ceremonies at Bangladesh’ two stock exchanges – in Dhaka and Chittagong. The country’s largest ever listing gave Dhaka Stock Exchange a huge boost and an all-time high benchmark index. Large masses flocked to the trading stations, and during the course of the day the value of the shares had more than doubled since the initial public share offer in the beginning of October. This got an overwhelming response, and the number of interested buyers far exceeded the selling capacity. The company now has almost 320 000 shareholders, and with good help from regulators and financial partners, the process went remarkably smoothly. At the Dhaka ceremony, Norway’s ambassador Ingebjørg Støfring said that the listing on the stock exchange is of great importance to both Bangladesh and Norway. Grameenphone is now owned largely by the people of Bangladesh. With this amount of popular support the company will develop further, and contribute significantly to the country’s socioeconomic development.
The stock exchange quotation is described as a milestone for Bangladesh’ capital market, and will contribute to increased confidence in the market. Other large companies are now encouraged to follow suit. A further positive outcome of the event is that it may help generate increased foreign investment in the country. Grameenphone now has 44% of the rapidly growing mobile sector, which as of today consists of 51 million subscribers.