Bangladesh’s largest ever initial public offering (IPO) by mobile operator Grameenphone closed Sunday, with total subscription over three times the issue target. TeleGeography, citing a report from bdnews24.com, notes that subscription applications have now been received from over one million prospective investors, worth a total of BDT17.25 billion. The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) reported that 1.08 million applications from locally based investors alone amounted to a subscription of BDT16.57 billion, whilst non-residents submitted BDT671 million worth of subscriptions.

TeleGeography reports that  Grameenphone is set to raise around BDT4.86 billion (US$71 million) through the sale of 69.4 million shares to the public, after it raised US$60 million in a three-times oversubscribed pre-IPO private share placement to local institutional investors in December 2008. The operator is Bangladesh’s largest with 21.2 million connections and a 42 percent market share, according to Wireless Intelligence. It is currently 62 percent-owned by Norway’s Telenor, with the remainder held by Grameen Telecom, a subsidiary of Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, but following its IPO Grameenphone will have 10 percent distributed ownership on the CSE and Dhaka Stock Exchange.