Chartered Life Insurance to sell 22.5 lakh shares to employees

Chartered Life Insurance Company Limited is going to be the first company in the country's insurance sector to share ownership with employees.

The life insurance company will issue 1.50 crore shares in the stock market through an initial public offering (IPO). And 15%, or 22.5 lakh, of the primary shares would be sold to the employees of the company.

The insurer will issue each share at a face value of Tk10. It will raise Tk15 crore through the IPO.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has already approved the company to issue the shares.

BSEC Executive Director and spokesperson Rezaul Karim said the commission has given consent to the company to issue shares to its employees. 

"These shares will be locked-in for two years. Other investors will get the remaining shares," he told The Business Standard.

As per the company prospectus, there are 60 full-time employees working in the company who are eligible to get allocated shares.

Company Secretary Md Mijanur Rahman said, "We will distribute the shares among our employers equally."

Earlier, the telecom operator Robi Axiata allocated IPO shares to its employers. It sold 2% of the total primary shares to them.

Of the remaining 1.27 crore IPO shares of Chartered Life, eligible investors will get 20%, mutual funds 5%, the general public 70%, and non-resident Bangladeshis 5%.

The company's IPO subscription started on 25 September and will continue till 29 September.

The IPO is intended to comply with the insurance regulator's requirement as insurers, like banks and non-bank financial institutions, are obliged to go public in several years of commercial operations.

Chartered Life would use the IPO funds to invest in government securities and publicly listed securities, alongside meeting the expenses for the IPO.

Registered in 2013, the company is currently owned by lawmaker Md Abdus Shahid, Channel i Head of News Shykh Seraj, Kohinoor Chemical's Managing Director Rezaul Karim, Unique Hotel and Resorts, Prantik Group's Managing Director Ghulam Mustafa, Golden Oil Mills Limited, GPH Power Generation, Energypac Power, and Reedisha Food and Beverage Limited.

In addition, several Bangladeshi expatriates from England are also sponsors of this company.

According to the actuarial valuation report, the total life insurance fund of the company was Tk35.22 crore at the end of 2021, while the surplus in the life insurance fund was over Tk4.67 crore, of which Tk45 lakh can be used to pay dividends to shareholders.

AAA Finance and Investments, Trust Bank Investment, and AB Investment Ltd are the joint issue managers of the Chartered Life IPO.

The company cannot announce or pay any dividend before its listing, according to the BSEC.