KATHMANDU, Aug 31: The government’s inability to appoint chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has put on hold the plans of 22 companies to issue their right shares worth Rs 19.40 billion.

After the retirement of former SEBON chief Ramesh Hamal on January 6, 2024, the board has been without leadership. For the past eight months, the government has not been able to appoint a chairperson of SEBON mainly due to lack of consensus at the political level. Daily operations have been affected as the responsibility of chairman has not been assigned to anyone.

At present, 22 companies are in the pipeline to issue 194,025,229 units of right shares to their shareholders. Of them, 14 are hydropower companies and the remaining eight are insurance companies.

The insurers have been looking forward to floating the primary shares targeting to increase their capital base. The Nepal Insurance Authority, the regulator, has asked life insurers to increase their paid up capital to at least Rs 5 billion. Similarly, the non-life insurers have been asked to increase their paid up capital to a minimum of Rs 2.5 billion.  

NLG Insurance, Neco Insurance, Prabhu Insurance, Nepal Insurance, Prabhu Mahalaxmi Life, Asian Life Insurance, Life Insurance Corporation and Sun Nepal Life are the insurers waiting for the SEBON’s approval to float their right shares.

Among hydropower companies, Joshi Hydropower, Khani Khola Hydropower, Tehrathum Power, Balefi Hydropower, Barahi Hydropower, Peoples Power, Dordi Khola Jal Bidyut Co, Rapti Hydro and General Construction, River Falls Power Limited, Shiva Shree Hydropower, Barun Hydropower, Chhyangdi Hydropower, Ngadi Group Power and Liberty Energy Company are awaiting approval to issue rights shares. These energy related companies look for issuing right shares of more than Rs 11 billion.