REFILE-Grameenphone to raise up to $60 mln in pre-IPO placement
(Edits story, sends to additional codes)
DHAKA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Top Bangladesh mobile carrier Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Telenor (TEL.OL), said it will raise up to $60 million in a pre-IPO placement.
Last month, Grameenphone cut a planned share sale to $125 million from $300 million due to the sharp downturn in global markets. [ID:nDHA398238]
In the pre-IPO placement, the company will raise up to a total of $60 million at 7.4 taka per share, up from a previously estimated $50 million due to strong demand from more than 50 local investors, it said.
The company is on track to float shares in the first quarter of 2009, Grameenphone officials said.
At end-October, Grameenphone had 20.8 million subscribers, around 48 percent of the nation's total and well ahead of Egyptian Orascom Telecom's (ORTE.CA) Banglalink and Telekom Malaysia's (TLMM.KL) Aktel.
Grameenphone was founded in 1996 by Norwegian telecoms group Telenor, the second-largest foreign operator in Asia, and Grameen Bank, which was launched by microfinance pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. ($1=68.88 taka) (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Anis Ahmed and Anshuman Daga)
