GrameenPhone IPO pencilled in for 3Q

Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star reports that mobile market leader GrameenPhone (GP) is aiming to offload shares in an initial public offering (IPO) in the third quarter of this year, according to a roadmap submitted by the company to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) last month. The roadmap also states that Citigroup Global Markets has been assigned as adviser to GP to assist it in devising a strategy, timeframe and execution plan for the IPO. Citigroup is to complete its valuation of GP this month, whereupon recommendations regarding the IPO will go to the cellco’s board, which is scheduled to hold a meeting at the end of February. If the plan receives board approval it will be submitted to the Dhaka Stock Exchange, whilst the IPO will also need the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In November, GP’s CEO Anders Jensen claimed that his company, majority-owned by Norway’s Telenor, is worth more than USD3.5 billion and that it may initially list less than 10% of its shares on the local bourse.

A BTRC official was quoted by the Star as saying that the regulator had also received the IPO roadmap of GP’s rival cellco AKTEL, but that the timeframe was unclear, due to the restructuring plans of the company’s majority owner, Telekom Malaysia. However, the official supposed that AKTEL might be listed by the end of 2008.