The finance ministry on Thursday backtracked on its instruction it had issued to regulators asking them to enlist infrastructure project-related companies, including Best Holdings Ltd, through direct listing on stock exchanges following a spate of criticisms against such move.

Best Holdings Ltd is the owning company of Le Meridien Hotel.

The ministry on the day requested the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bangladesh Bank to halt any activity related to such listing until any further instruction.

Earlier in September, finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal sent a letter to the BSEC and the BB, requesting the regulators to allow direct listing of infrastructure project-related companies including Best Holdings by providing necessary waiver of rules.

As per a BSEC directive issued on December 1, 2016, the stock exchanges cannot exercise direct listing of the unlisted securities of a company which is not owned by the government.

Best Holdings filed an application with the BSEC on November 12, seeking its approval to issue 4.35 crore shares at Tk 65 each to raise Tk 283 crore under the direct listing method.

RACE Portfolio and Issue Management Company Limited and ICB Capital Management Limited are the issue managers of the company.

Though the BSEC had not made any decision on the proposed waivers for the company’s direct listing, the DSE had decided that it would place the matter before the board meeting held on Thursday.

A DSE shareholder director allegedly put pressure on the other directors to allow the company to be enlisted on the bourse under the direct listing method.

In the circumstances, the BSEC held an emergency meeting on Wednesday and halted the DSE move.

The regulator also asked the DSE to explain in three working days why the bourse had considered the enlisting of Best Holdings despite various non-compliances by the company.

Four state-run banks hold 29.58 per cent of Best Holdings’ shares.

Sonali Bank holds 8.83 per cent, Janata Bank 8.83 per cent, Agrani Bank 6.62 per cent and Rupali Bank 5.3 per cent. The banks bought placement shares of the company at Tk 65 each.

As per Best Holdings’ prospectus, the company raised Tk 472.8 crore through issuing placement shares from August, 2019 to June, 2020.