Omera Petroleum to raise Tk238 crore through stock market listing

FT ONLINE

The Omera Petroleum Ltd plans to raise Tk238.43 crore through an initial public offering under the book building method for expanding its business. The energy company officials made the disclosure during a roadshow held at a hotel in Dhaka on Sunday evening.

The company also plans to purchase a modern seaworthy vessel with a capacity of 1.5 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas, which will be valued at around Tk186.32 crore. Meanwhile, Tk46.75 crore will be utilized to repay the company's bank loans.

The Omera Petroleum Ltd organized the roadshow for potential investors as part of its plan for the initial public offering.

Addressing the event, Chief Executive Officer of Omera Petroleum Shamsul Haque Ahmed said, "To meet the growing demand of liquid petroleum gas in the country, Omera Petroleum started its journey into the sector by utilizing European technology and machinery.

"The Omera imports liquid petroleum gas and bottles it into five different cylinders for domestic and commercial use. The company also sells gas in bulk for use in the industry sector."

He also added that the Omera has the latest modern infrastructure facilities for liquid petroleum gas reservation and distribution to customers.

The Omera has five tanks with a capacity of 9,050 tonnes of gas and three gas carrying vessels with a total capacity of 1,000 tonnes, which is used to transport liquid petroleum gas across inland waterways.

The Omera also has 32 gas transport road tankers with a capacity of 17 metric tonnes each. The company has the capacity to bottle up to 60,000 cylinders every day.

The Omera Petroleum recently signed an agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and started exporting gas to the northeast of India, especially in the state of Tripura.

The energy company is a subsidiary of Mobil Jamuna Bangladesh Ltd, which owns 62.49 percent share of the company. Other notable shareholders are BB Energy Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore and the Netherlands based financial firm FMO.

On the occasion, company officials said the current paid-up capital of the Omera Petroleum is around Tk222 crore. The net asset value per share of the company is Tk19.71 per share. Its earnings-per-share was Tk2.93 during the financial year 2018-19.

The Omera Petroleum Ltd Directors Azam J Chowdhury, Tanjil Chowdhury, Raed Abul Nasr Bassatne, Bahaeddine Mohamed Aboul Nasr Bassatne, Richard Verbove, Chief Financial Officer Akter Hossain Sannamat, Company secretory Mohammad Assadujjaman were also present at the programme.

Representatives of merchant banks and portfolio managers, asset management companies, mutual funds, stock dealers, banks, financial institutes, insurance companies, alternative investment fund managers and other recognized pension and provident fund and commission approved company managerial authorities also attended the roadshow.

LankaBangla Investments Ltd and Unicap Investment Ltd are working as the issue manager for the initial public offering.