December 29: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has resumed the process of approval of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of securities after a gap of two months. The board has stopped the approval of IPO from October 18 following complaints that the continuous issuance of public offerings of securities in the primary market was affecting the secondary market.

SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal and the management of SEBON were accused of negligence in approving issuance of IPOs. Due to the complaints, Chairman Hamal proposed that the approval of IPOs must be done through the board of directors of SEBON.

A member of the board of directors said that the board meeting of SEBON decided to authorize the chairman to proceed with the approval process of IPOs upon the recommendation of the management. The regulatory body claimed that it is working in a clean and transparent manner for the approval of public issuance by forming a department for the approval process.

After the board of directors cleared the issue, the SEBON has now started the process of giving permission for public issuance to the companies that have completed the process. The board allowed Kumari Capital Limited to sell 100 million units of shares worth Rs 1 billion on December 17, exactly two months after the approval process was halted.

The following day, SEBON allowed Nepal Investment Mega Bank to auction 40,40,000 units of bonds worth Rs 4.4 billion. Similarly, on December 19, the board allowed Sarvottam Cement to issue 3.6 million units of shares to the general public through the book building method in the second phase. The board has allowed Sarvottam Cement to sell its shares to the general public at the rate of Rs 360.90 per share.

On December 27, the board gave permission to Singti Hydropower Project to issue 145 million units of rights shares at 100% rate.