Walton gets SEC green light to float IPO to raise Tk 1b

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited has received the final approval from Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC to raise Tk 1 billion in capital from the stock market through initial public offering or IPO.

Walton will release 2,928,343 shares in the book-building system through the IPO.

It will issue 1,379,367 of these shares to eligible investors at their own bidding prices.

The cut-off price per share was fixed at Tk 315 through bidding in March.

As per the rules, the eligible investors will have to buy as many shares as they sought at the prices they had offered during the bidding.

General investors will get 1,548,976 shares at Tk 252 per issue or in 20 percent discount from the cut-off price.

The authorised capital of Walton in the share market is Tk 6 billion and paid-up capital Tk 3 billion.

It will spend the capital from the stock market on expansion and modernisation of its factories, research, quality improvement, partial clearance of liabilities in bank loans and IPO management.

Its Net Asset Value per share was Tk 138.53 and Earnings Per Share was Tk 28.42, according to its financial statement released on Jun 30, 2019.

Mohammad A Hafiz, director of Walton’s issue manager AAA Finance and Investment Limited, said the tech firm’s average Earnings Per Share - Tk 28.42 in past five years – is the highest he has ever seen during the IPO of a company.

Walton began its journey as a private company on Apr 17, 2006 and turned into a public firm on May 14, 2018.

It initially produced refrigerators, air conditioners and compressors. It now has a range of electrical and electronics products.