Chinese consortium signs deal to acquire 25% stake in Bangladesh's premier bourse

DHAKA - A Chinese consortium comprising the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on Monday signed an agreement with Bangladesh's Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to acquire 25 percent stake in the country's premier bourse and became its strategic investor.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) recently approved DSE's proposal to sell 25 percent of its stake to the Chinese consortium.

The BSEC approved the DSE's strategic partnership, fixing each of 450,944,125 shares at a price of 21 taka ($0.25), the regulator said on its website.

DSE's hunt for a strategic partner came as it turned into a demutualized stock exchange on Nov 21, 2013.

SZSE and SSE received DSE's tender invitation in July 2017.

A DSE official told Xinhua earlier that in consideration of all the aspects, the proposal of the Chinese consortium was the best offer in terms of value and technical support.

The bidding process also involved Indian, U.S. and Turkish exchanges.

According to a statement released by the Shenzhen bourse, the Chinese consortium's bid to become strategic partner of DSE would support the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation along the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

It said the Chinese bourses would cooperate with DSE on trading technology, market and product development.

Founded in 1954, DSE is Bangladesh's premier bourse and had 303 listed companies with a market capitalization of $44 billion by the end of 2017.