Enlist good companies

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) yesterday urged merchant bankers to bring companies with good performance records to the stock market. 

In a meeting with the country's merchant bankers at the premier bourse's head office at Nikunja, DSE Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Hasan Babu said such work should be done properly and enlistment done through initial public offerings (IPO).

For a stock market to be vibrant, it needs to have companies with good performance records and this is where the merchant bankers have a huge responsibility as they are supposed to bring in companies, he said.

There are many merchant banks in Bangladesh but very few companies became listed over the last couple of years, said the DSE chairman.

It is true that many companies with good performance records are not interested to go public for many reasons. The merchant bankers should sit with them, inform of the benefits of getting listing and convince them to get listed, he said.

Until such companies get listed with the stock market, the latter's contribution to the economy will remain poor, he added.

The DSE acting managing director, Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, said the main task of the merchant banks was to bring good companies to the stock market to enhance its contribution to the economy.

Sayadur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association, also spoke.