Nepal Telecom not keen on listing shares

The mantra of investing in stocks is that you buy them to make money. But, until stocks are listed and trading starts, it’s no-go.

Nepal Telecom (NT) has not yet applied to Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) for listing its shares. According to the Securities Registration and Issue Approval Guideline 2057, a company must apply for listing to Nepse within 45 days of share allotment. But, 45 days have already passed since the allotment of NT’s shares.

“If the company does not list its shares at Nepse within 45 days, it has to apply to Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) with a proper explanation and seek a 30-day extension,” states the guideline. NT has also not applied to Sebon for extension.

“NT does not need to follow the guideline as it is not a ‘normal’ public issue. It has floated its shares under the govern ment’s divestment programme,” said a NT employee.

Citizen Investment Trust, the issue manager of NT, allotted the NT shares on May 16. Except for a few applicants, whose forms lacked proper documents and signatures, all those who applied got the shares.

“Nepse will decide whether to list or not within 30 days after it receives the application,” said Rewat Bahadur Karki, general manager of Nepse, the sole secondary market.

NT called the bid for its shares quoting Rs 600 minimum after adding Rs 500 premium to the face value of Rs 100 for each unit. Investors quoted a maximum of Rs 2,550 to the lowest of Rs 600 for a share.

As part of the divestment and privatisation plan, the government has sold NT’s 10 per cent shares to the public through auction. It has already sold five per cent to NT’s employees at a subsidized rate of Rs 90 per unit.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Nepse delisted five more companies — Nepal Byapar Bikas Co (Koshi) Ltd, Nepal Rastriya Utpadakatwa & Arthik Bikas Kendra Ltd, Himgiri Textile Industries Ltd, Biratnagar Jute Mills Ltd and Morang Sugar Mills Ltd.

It has already, in two phases, delisted 38 companies worth billions. The number of delisted companies has reached 43.

“They can be automatically listed in the Over the Counter (OTC) market,” said Karki.

Most delisted companies have closed down and nobody knows the whereabouts of their representatives. Some have become promoters of newly opened financial institutions.

According to the Stock Exchange Regulation-2002, companies that do not respond to Nepse within 15 days of its decision to delist them are automatically delisted.

After the Securities Board of Nepal’s (Sebon) approval, Nepse has brought the OTC Market Regulation but it has seen no transaction till date.
Source: THT