Published at: The Financial Express, April 04, 2019
Esquire Knit Composite will make its share trading debut on the bourses on April 09 (Tuesday) under ‘N’ category, officials said.
Esquire Knit will make debut as 54th listed company in the textile sector on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). The textile sector accounted for nearly 5.0 per cent of the prime bourse’s total market cap.
The company raised a total capital of Tk 1.50 billion through issuing 34.89 million ordinary shares under the book-building method.
The initial public offering (IPO) subscription period for the Esquire Knit Composite, a business unit of the Esquire Group, was held between January 06 and January 20, 2019.
Of the total shares, 60 per cent or 20.83 million shares (worth Tk 937 million) were reserved for eligible investors at a cut-off price. The remaining shares are offered for public subscription.
The cut-off price of Esquire Knit share was fixed at Tk 45 each on July 14 last year by the institutional investors through electronic bidding.
The remaining 40 per cent or 14.06 million shares issued to the general investors, including affected small investors and non-resident Bangladeshis.
The general investors got IPO shares at 10 per cent discount on the cut-off price, meaning they got each share of the company at Tk 40.
The IPO proceeds will be used to procurement of garment machinery for new project (28.76 per cent), building and civil construction (66.95 per cent) and to meet the IPO expenses (4.29 per cent).
On January 23 last year, the securities regulator — Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) — allowed the Esquire Knit to conduct bidding for its shares to set the cut-off price of its shares.
The bidding took place from July 9 to 12, 2018. The export-oriented knit garments company held a road show in April 2017.
Prime Finance Capital Management is the issue manager of the Esquire Knit IPO.
The company’s pre-IPO paid-up capital is Tk 1.0 billion and authorised capital is Tk 2.0 billion.
The company’s basic earnings per share (EPS) was Tk 3.44 and the net asset value (NAV) per share (with revaluation) Tk 49.27 at the end of June 30, 2018.
Located at Sonargaon in Narayanganj, Esquire Knit is 100 per cent export oriented company which started commercial operation in 2001.
The company produces different types of knit garments through its six units — knitting, fabric, printing, embroidery, industrial laundry and garments and sells the same to foreign buyers.
