Two state-owned oil companies — Jamuna Oil Company Limited and Meghna Petroleum Limited — will make debut on the stock exchanges by January 10 under the direct listing regulations, a market source said.

Both the companies will offload shares worth Tk 255 million.

The source said the board of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will fix dates for the start of trading of the two issues at a meeting very soon.

“The trading of the two companies will begin by January 10 as the two companies have already published their information documents in newspapers,” a DSE source told the FE Tuesday.

A DSE source said the modus operandi of trading for the two companies will be similar to that of DESCO and Power Grid Company, which went public for the first time in 2006 under the direct listing regulations.

The new companies will be allowed to offload shares on the first two days of trading for two hours a day. Normal trading will start on the fourth day while there will be no trading on the third day.

Prospective investors will offer prices for buying shares in the first 15 minutes on the first trading day. Based on the offered price, the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), the issue manager will fix a price of each share to facilitate the start of offloading of shares.

Buyers will be allowed to place a maximum order for 250 shares (five lots) at a time on the first two days.

The country’s both the bourses — DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) — have already approved the listing applications of the two state-owned oil companies.

Under the direct listing regulations, Jamuna Oil Company Ltd and Meghna Petroleum Ltd will offload 30 per cent of their shares, worth Tk 135 million and Tk 120 million respectively with the face value of Tk 10 each.

Earlier in August, the government announced its intention to sell up to 49 per cent stakes in the two oil marketing and distribution companies.