Bangladesh's Grameenphone expects IPO soon

DHAKA, June 27 (Reuters) - Top Bangladesh mobile phone carrier Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Saturday it expected to launch its initial public offering soon as it had fulfilled conditions set by the country's Securities and Exchange Commission.

"We have fulfilled all requirements set forth by the SEC," said Ferdousur Rahman, a senior official at Grameenphone.

Bangladesh's SEC had asked the company to refix the face value of the IPO to 10 taka from 1 taka to avoid volatility, SEC Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker said.

Grameenphone has already raised $60 million through the pre-IPO private placement offer (PPO) to local institutional investors in December last year and aims to raise another $65 million through the IPO.

With a market share of 47 percent, Grameenphone is expected to draw plenty of investor interest.

"The inclusion of Grameenphone in stock markets will boost the confidence of the small investors who are the principal engine of economic growth," said broker Imtiyaz Husain.

Grameenphone was founded in 1996 by Telenor and Grameen Telecom, which was launched by microfinance pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

Its competitors include Egyptian Orascom Telecom's Banglalink, AKtel, majority owned by Telekom Malaysia International, CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications, Gulf-based Warid Telecom and state-run Teletalk.

($1=69.00 taka)

(Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; editing by Sue Thomas)