Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) is allowed to convert its eight mutual funds from closed-end to open-end ones by next one year.
The time has been extended up to December 31 next year in response to the request by the ICB, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) said in a statement yesterday.
The conversion time of the eight mutual funds— First ICB Mutual Fund, Second ICB Mutual Fund, Third ICB Mutual Fund, Fourth ICB Mutual Fund, Fifth ICB Mutual Fund, Sixth ICB Mutual Fund, Seventh ICB Mutual Fund and Eighth ICB Mutual Fund will expire this month.
In November, the BSEC allowed the ICB to convert its closed-end mutual funds into open-end ones as per new mutual fund rules 2001.
The ICB earlier sought permission of the commission to merge its closed-end mutual funds with the Bangladesh Fund, but the BSEC rejected the plea as no rules permit such merger.
As per the mutual fund rules, a decision of conversion will be effective after getting approval by two-thirds of the unit holders of a fund in an extraordinary general meeting.
In 2009, the BSEC asked the mutual funds with 10-year maturity period to redeem by December 2011.
Later in September last year, the regulator extended the maturity period of the closed-end mutual funds to December 2013.
Redemption means the unit holders of a mutual fund would get back the net asset value (NAV) per unit of the fund in cash, upon maturity or cancellation by the issuer.