The two firms -- Ocean Containers Ltd and Khulna Power Ltd -- got the permission at a meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission, presided over by the commission's Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker.
However, no more private companies will be allowed to list directly in line with the government's earlier decision.
The finance ministry at a meeting on November 5 last year decided that only state-run companies will be able to offload shares under the direct listing method.
But the companies applied for direct listing before the November 5 decision will not come within the purview, Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan, executive director of SEC, told journalists at a briefing, quoting the finance ministry's direction.
Ocean Containers and Khulna Power sought permission before November 5.
“The commission sought directions from the finance ministry about the direct listing proposals, as confusions surfaced centring the direct listing issue. The ministry later gave a clear direction and the commission is implementing it,” Bhuiyan said.
“We will now ask the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses to take necessary steps for the companies' direct listing,” he added.
Ocean Containers, an entity of Summit Group, submitted the direct listing proposal on June 23, 2009 and Khulna Power, another concern of the same group, on October 1.
Ocean Containers will offload 1.9 crore shares of Tk 10 each, while Khulna Power will offload 5.21 crore shares of Tk 10 each.
In the book building method, institutions bid for shares through which the price is discovered.
Ocean Containers and Khulna Power will be the fourth and fifth private sector companies that will be listed directly. Five state-run enterprises have so far offloaded shares in the stockmarket under direct listing rules.
The SEC at the yesterday's meeting also approved the rights issue of Mercantile Bank and rejected the rights offer of One Bank and BD Com for noncompliance with the securities rules.
Mercantile Bank will issue 1.44 crore ordinary shares of Tk 100 each totalling Tk 144 crore at a ratio of 2:3, meaning two rights shares will be offered for an existing three
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