Kathmandu, November 25:

A total of 1.5 million shares of Siddhartha Bank Ltd (SBL) were allotted today on the basis of lottery to 32,913 shareholders in the capital at the gathering of bankers, investors, share-brokers and holders, journalists, and issue managers.

However, the total number of valid applicants, who applied for the bank’s shares were 84,523 asking for 27,841,770 shares.

Nepal Merchant Banking and Finance Ltd (NMBFL) and NIDC Capital Markets Ltd were the issue managers of the bank’s shares.

The total public issue amount of the shares worth Rs 150 million. Of the total shares, 75000 shares were provisioned for the bank’s staff and 45000 for mutual fund.

Speaking on the occasion, Chiranji Lal Agrawal, chairman of the bank, expressed happiness over the cooperation extended by issue managers, shareholders and staff.

Upendra Poudel, CEO of Nepal Merchant Banking and Finance Ltd, one of the issue managers,

said, “if more institutions float their shares to the public, capital market will get a boost.”