Rs 122.8bn of share, bond and fund issues wait at SEBON, some since 2023

Nepal's companies are asking investors for a great deal of money, and every request passes through one regulator. In early October 2026 the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) held 144 applications to sell shares and bonds: 111 initial public offerings (IPOs), 30 rights issues, two further public offers and one debenture, seeking about Rs 114bn between them, according to the regulator's lists dated 21 September to 6 October 2026. Nine mutual fund schemes seeking Rs 8.8bn wait in a separate queue, according to SEBON's mutual fund pipeline dated 5 October 2026. Together that is about Rs 122.8bn that companies and fund managers cannot raise until the regulator says yes.

• IPOs (111)Rs 70.65bn58%
• Rights issues (30)Rs 40.15bn33%
• Mutual fund schemes (9)Rs 8.8bn7%
• Debentures (1)Rs 3bn2%
• Further public offers (2)Rs 0.18bn<1%

Source: Securities Board of Nepal pipeline lists, 21 September to 6 October 2026

For companies, the queue is the gap between deciding to raise capital and being allowed to. For investors, it is the supply still to come: retail buyers apply for IPOs online through MeroShare and win shares by lottery when an issue is oversubscribed. Our securities tracker follows the same SEBON lists, alongside the issues open now.

Little has come out of the other end. SEBON's approved-IPO list for fiscal 2083/84, dated 6 October 2026, carries one entry, Him Parbat Hydropower, cleared to sell 5,915,000 shares to the general public at Rs 100 each to raise Rs 591.5m, according to the list. The approval date printed beside it is 2082/06/20, a year before the list's own date, the list shows. In the rights queue, 28 of the 30 applications were still in the first stage of review on 2 October 2026, according to SEBON's rights-share pipeline. IPO approvals came to a halt while SEBON was without a chair, after its chairman resigned on 17 April, Himal Press reported.

IPOs: heavy industry at a premium

The 111 IPO applications seek Rs 70.65bn, about $455m, according to SEBON's list dated 6 October 2026. Manufacturing and processing companies account for Rs 35.71bn of that, or 51%, and hydropower for Rs 17.19bn, or 24% by SEBON's sector totals. No commercial bank, development bank, finance company or microfinance institution is in the queue, the list shows.

Most Nepali companies go public at the Rs 100 face value of their shares. The largest cement and steel makers want much more. Eight manufacturers have applied to sell shares at a premium, seeking about Rs 27.3bn, roughly $176m, or more than three-quarters of the Rs 35.7bn that 32 manufacturing applicants want, according to SEBON's pipeline. Jagdamba Steels wants Rs 6.62bn by selling 20.07m shares at Rs 330 each, Shaurya Cement Industries Rs 5.32bn at Rs 333, Maruti Cements Rs 4.94bn at Rs 426, the highest price in the queue, and Ambe Steels Rs 3.39bn at Rs 303, the list shows. The other four ask between Rs 233 and Rs 333.56 a share, according to the same list.

Those prices rose while the companies waited. In February Jagdamba Steels was asking Rs 300 a share, Shaurya Cement Rs 264.51, Maruti Cements Rs 377 and Riddhisiddhi Cement Rs 214.10, ShareSansar reported. SEBON's current list records updates from all four raising their premium, by between 10% for Jagdamba and 26% for Shaurya, and increasing the share of capital on offer.

The higher prices follow a weak year for cement. Shivam Cements, one of the few listed cement makers, reported revenue down 10.87% to Rs 6.92bn for 2082/83, and its shares traded at 44 times earnings, ShareSansar reported. When the premium trend gathered pace in February, the market analyst Ramhari Nepal said premium issues by deserving companies help the market but warned that using IPOs as an exit for promoters, the founding shareholders who hold a separate class of shares, is bad practice, ShareSansar reported.

Power developers, meanwhile, oppose stricter IPO eligibility rules on which SEBON is consulting, as we reported.

The waits are long. Of the 111 applications, 15 were filed in the Nepali year 2080 (April 2023 to April 2024), 37 in 2081, 41 in 2082 and 17 since mid-April 2026, with one undated, according to SEBON's list. That puts 52, nearly half, in the queue since before mid-April 2025. Most remarks on the list refer to compliance reports and updates sent after SEBON's comments, the list shows.

1. 2080 (Apr 2023 to Apr 2024)15
2. 2081 (Apr 2024 to Apr 2025)37
3. 2082 (Apr 2025 to Apr 2026)41
4. Since mid-April 202617

Source: SEBON list of IPO applications, 6 October 2026 (one application undated)

Rights issues: a bank and the power developers

A rights issue lets a listed company raise capital from its existing shareholders at a fixed price, usually the Rs 100 face value in Nepal; owners who do not take up their entitlement are diluted. Thirty applications seeking Rs 40.15bn were in SEBON's rights-share pipeline on 2 October 2026, according to the regulator's list. Twenty-eight of them, worth Rs 38.6bn, about $250m, sat in preliminary review, while two older applications from Prabhu Mahalaxmi Life Insurance and Prabhu Insurance had moved further along without approval, the list shows.

The largest request is NIC Asia Bank's: 74,587,835 shares at Rs 100, one new share for every two held, raising Rs 7.46bn, half of its paid-up capital of Rs 14.92bn, B360 reported. Its need is plain in its fourth-quarter report for 2082/83, which shows its common equity tier 1 ratio down to 6.27% from 6.87% a year earlier and gross bad loans up to 9.26% of lending from 8.74%, according to the report.

By number, the queue belongs to hydropower. Seventeen of the 28 applicants in preliminary review are power developers seeking Rs 20.8bn, or 54% of that stage's total, led by Sahas Urja (Rs 4.57bn), Peoples Hydropower (Rs 3.2bn) and Modi Energy (Rs 2.61bn), according to SEBON's list. Barahi Hydropower's request dates from 2081/02/24, more than two years ago, the list shows. SEBON states on the list that inclusion does not mean an applicant is eligible to issue shares.

Mutual funds: the queue that moves

Nine schemes seeking Rs 8.8bn, about $57m, were waiting on 5 October 2026, according to SEBON's mutual fund pipeline. Six are closed-end funds, which raise a fixed sum, list on the Nepal Stock Exchange and run for a set term. Three are open-ended schemes, which sell and buy back units directly at net asset value, including Himalayan Capital's long-term savings scheme, whose application dates from early 2024, according to SEBON.

Here approvals are visibly flowing. SEBON's approved list, dated 5 October 2026, shows five schemes worth Rs 7.8bn cleared in fiscal 2083/84: three new closed-end funds worth Rs 2.8bn, and additional units worth Rs 3bn for NIBL Sabhagita Fund and Rs 2bn for Shubha Laxmi Kosh, according to the list. SEBON has said it will remove the lock-in period on fund units once they are listed, Bajarko Chirfar reported. The track record is mixed: nine matured seven-year funds averaged an annual dividend of 12.61%, and one returned a final net asset value of Rs 9.58 per unit, below the Rs 10 at which units were sold, a ShareSansar study found.

Bank preference shares and debentures: away from the public

SEBON approved nine debenture and preference-share issues worth Rs 23.35bn, about $150m, in fiscal 2082/83, of which only Rs 1.4bn was set aside for the general public, according to its approval list dated 24 June 2026. Six were perpetual non-cumulative preference shares issued by banks, worth Rs 16.85bn, or 72% of the total, the list shows. These shares have no redemption date, can be held only by institutions, and convert into ordinary shares if a bank's common equity falls below 5.125% of risk-weighted assets, under conditions the central bank set in 2024, ShareSansar reported. Prabhu Bank's board has approved Rs 5bn more at a proposed 8.5% dividend, ShareSansar reported, and NIC Asia Bank has sought approval for Rs 5bn at the same rate, Bizness News reported.

Public debentures now pay far less than they did. Nabil Bank's seven-year debenture issued in 2020 paid 10% a year, B360 reported. SEBON's debenture pipeline dated 21 September 2026 holds a single application, Everest Bank's six-year Rs 3bn debenture at 6.25%, with Rs 1.8bn for the public, according to the list. SEBON approved the state-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank's Rs 3bn, seven-year debenture at 6% on 2083/06/02, according to its debenture list. It opens on 15 October and closes on 27 October, ShareSansar's issue listing shows. Cheap short-term money sets the floor: the central bank sold Rs 370bn of one-year NRB bonds at coupons between 2.64% and 2.74% in 2082/83, according to its auction results to 8 July. Why banks need so little borrowed money is explored in a separate report.

What to watch

The first approval among the eight premium manufacturing IPOs will set a benchmark for how SEBON values heavy industry and for whether retail investors will pay three or four times face value. For NIC Asia, the test is whether new equity lifts its common equity ratio before bad loans absorb it. Among funds, the end of the lock-in will show whether listed closed-end units trade closer to their net asset value. In bonds, the question is whether retail investors, shut out of preference shares, are offered much long-term paper at all. Approvals appear first on SEBON's approved lists, which our tracker follows.