DOHA: Banks have been asked to offer easier repayment terms to the citizens who took loans to apply for subscription to a now-completed state-sponsored equity offer.
A large number of nationals, among them women, relied on bank loans to apply for the initial public offering (IPO) of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Company (MPHC).
Subscription to the IPO, that was open only for nationals and a select few local institutions, ended on January 21 and allotment of shares were announced on Wednesday.
Banking industry sources said that there are directives with the banks to be flexible about repayment terms of IPO subscription-related loans.
Some banks have extended repayment tenures up to six months after initially fixing shorter tenures.
Banks have also begun making refunds to the successful IPO subscribers for the oversubscribed portion of shares.
A large number of people applied for more than 1,633 shares (the maximum that has been allotted to individual applicants), so they are being given back the money they paid for extra shares.
According to banking industry sources, those subscribers who didn’t take bank loans to apply for the IPO are being given the refunds directly as the money is being credited into their bank accounts.
And as for those who took loans, refunds for oversubscribed portion of shares are being made after deducting the amount payable for the allotted portion of shares.
The MPHC IPO was priced at QR10.20. Of this, QR10 is the face value, while QR0.20 is the service fee for subscription and listing.
The company is expected to be listed on the Qatari bourse (Qatar Exchange) by month-end and analysts hope the listing price of its shares would be much more than the offer price.
“We expect that some share owners might offload at least 50 percent of the stocks on listing if the listing price is attractive, to repay loans,” a banking industry source said.
The Peninsula
