In the words of Mega Bank chief Anil Keshary Shah, the success of the bank’s IPO is a mega achievement.  At a time when the people have been talking about cash crunch, Mega Bank Nepal’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed by 15 times the size of the offering.

The bank had offered ordinary shares worth Rs 699 million at a face value of Rs 100 per unit for the public from June 2. An investor was allowed to apply for a minimum of 50 units and a maximum of 200,000 units.

The shares will be allotted proportionately based on the total number of applications received. The bank had received 75,000 applications and collected Rs 6.33 billion by the third day of the IPO. “The success of the IPO is an indication that Mega Bank is in the right path in its belief of financial inclusion for economic uplift,” said Shah, a young and dynamic Chief Executive Officer.

Mega Bank Nepal, which started operations in September 2010, has a paid up capital of Rs 1.63 billion, which will increase to Rs 2.33 billion after the shares are issued.  The bank had earned Rs 130 million in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.

"At the end of the day we have more clarity on the figures of our Mega IPO, while these are not final we are getting there! In total we collected Rs.14.2 billion and received 158,000 applications, making our IPO 22 times oversubscribed! While the billions of rupees collected in just four days is truly humbling, for me, personally, the fact that we were able to earn the confidence of over 1.58 lakh Nepali brothers & sisters is gratifying on a very deep level," writes Anil Kesary Shah in his face book wall.

"And when you have the courage to stand alone and walk on the path less traveled by in due course others will most certainly join! Well the much awaited Mega IPO has concluded! In first 3 days we received 75,000 applications and collected Rs.6.33 billion rupees, making the IPO 10 times over subscribed in just 3 days. Estimates after today's collection are that we will be around 15 times oversubscribed with close to 125,000 applications & Rs.9.5 billion raised. However, final figures will only be known tomorrow. So far a truly Mega IPO, now we know we no longer stand alone & our vision of economic upliftment through financial inclusion is growing throughout the nation!"

So, there is a huge amount of money in the market. Given political stability, Nepal can achieve a high economic growth. Similarly, three months back Commerz and Trust Bank Nepal’s IPO worth Rs 600 million was oversubscribed by 12 times the size. Likewise, Civil Bank’s IPO worth Rs 800 million, held in December, was oversubscribed by almost seven times as investors had applied for shares worth Rs 5.4 billion.