NIC Asia revises its auction refund date; to issue direct bank transfer on Friday

NIC Asia Capital Limited has revised the date for issuing refunds to non-allottees of auction of NIC Asia Bank Limited. An official of NIC Asia Capital informed that the refunds will be issued coming Friday (Asadh 16 instead of the earlier proposed date of Asadh 19). All refunds will be transferred directly to the bidders’ bank accounts mentioned in the bid form. Lately, investors had complained about delay in issuing refunds for auction non-allottees. Before SEBON issued the new Securities Issue and Allotment Guidelines 2074, the refunds used to be issued 7 days after the Board of Directors (BOD) of the company endorsed the bids (irrespective of when the bids were opened). Delay in calling BOD meeting used to delay the refunds further. Auction refunds of Agricultural Development Bank and Neco Insurance were issued after 12 days of the bid opening date. Under the new guideline, refunds should be issued in 3 days. However, the new guideline still does not provide concrete timeframe as to when the BOD should endorse the bids. As per the official of NIC Asia Capital, the refunds were delayed because it had received over 2,500 bids. The company’s decision to further expedite the refund in this situation is considerable and can be a lesson for other companies as well. NIC Asia Bank Limited had auctioned its 2,98,536  units unclaimed ordinary right shares to the general public from Asadh 1 to Asadh 8, 2074. The bids were opened on Asadh 9 at 1:30 PM. Investors who had bid Rs 411 or higher have been allotted the shares. NICA has earned a minimum of Rs 9.28 crore in premium through this auction. After capitalization of the right shares, its paid up capital has reached Rs 6.69 arba.