Rural Microfinance Development Centre to issue ordinary shares

Rural Microfinance Development Centre Limited (RMDC), a wholesale financer to micro-finance institutions, is going to go for initial public offering (IPO) of its shares worth Rs. 170 million. The 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of RMDC held on Friday approved the proposal of issuing 30 percent ordinary shares. "The move is aimed at raising the RMDC's paid up capital to Rs. 520 million from the existing Rs. 320 million," said Shankar Man Shrestha, Chief Executive Officer of RMDC. "We also aim to increase our authorized capital to Rs. 1billion from existing Rs. 640 million."

The RMDC said that individual Nepalese and institutional domestic foreign investors would be able to purchase RMDC shares. The RMDC has been providing loans to 79 development banks and micro-credit institutions and it provided loans of Rs. 4.3 billion in the fiscal year 2008/09. It earned an operating profit of Rs. 90 million last year. The Centre aims to ensure its loans reach to 950,000 poor families this year with additional 150,000 families getting its loans. According to the Centre, it provided loans to 800,000 families through its partner organizations.

Source: ekantipur