NIC Asia Growth Fund (NICAGF) has concluded its public issue allotment this Tuesday 13th March 2018 (29th Falgun 2074).
The growth fund of 100 million (10 crores) units worth Rs 1 billion (Rs 1 arba) at face value 10 each was issued to the general public starting from Tuesday 16th January (2nd Magh 2074) initially for a week to Monday 22nd January (8th Magh 2074) at the earliest and then later extended to another 2 weeks to Sunday 4th February 2018 (21st Magh 2074) as per the offer letter to the maximum and then further once again extended up until Sunday 25th February 2018 (13th Falgun 2074) as the fund size of Rs 1 billion had still not been fully subscribed.
According to NIC Asia Capital Limited, the issue and fund manager of the NIC Asia Mutual Fund, out of the total Rs 1 billion worth unit shares issued, there were only 68.52 applications from the public of which 21 applications were cancelled due to due to reasons such as double applications and/or applications for less than specified units; 16 being double and 5 being applications for less than 100 units. Rest all applicants were allotted unit shares as per their demand. In this way, the size of the fund totals Rs 835.2 billion including Rs 150 billion worth unit shares set aside for NIC Asia Bank and NIC Asia Capital.
Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) provided final nod to the public issue of NIC Asia Growth Fund on Poush 11, 2074. Interested people had the provision to apply for a mandatory minimum of 100 unit shares to a maximum of up to 20,00,000 unit shares through ASBA-approved banks from all 77 districts across the country.
NIC Asia Growth Fund is NIC Asia Capital’s first mutual fund scheme, and is a 7-years closed-end fund. The scheme is managed by NIC Asia Capital Limited with NIC Asia Bank Limited (NICA) as the fund sponsor. Under the current regulation, 1.50 crore units (15%) were reserved for NIC Asia Bank and NIC Asia Capital and the remaining 8.50 crore units (85%) floated to the public.
NIC Asia Capital Limited is a 100% subsidiary of NIC Asia Bank licensed by SEBON to provide merchant banking, issue management and fund management services. Currently, there are 12 mutual fund schemes in the market, of which 11 are also listed in Nepal Stock Exchange, NIC Asia Growth Fund being the 3rd mutual fund scheme after Siddhartha Equity Fund that to get approval for public issue in the ongoing fiscal year 2074/75.
