The multinationals are: British American Tobacco Bangladesh Co Ltd, Singer Bangladesh Ltd, Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd, Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Ltd, BOC Bangladesh Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd.

Electronic shares of these companies along with another four -- Agriculture Marketing Company Ltd, Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd, Bangladesh General Insurance Company Ltd and Mercantile Bank Ltd -- will be settled through the CDS from July 18.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday at its Commission meeting approved electronic settlement for share of these companies.

With the new entrants, the total number of companies joining the CDS rose to 26. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd was the first company in Bangladesh to adopt the electronic settlement system on January 24.

The spot trading of these companies will be held on July 13. For smooth conversion of paper shares into electronic ones, share trading of the companies will be suspended from July 14 to July 17.

Under CDS, all physical shares are converted into electronic ones and transactions are held electronically.

Earlier, Industrial Development Leasing Company Bangladesh Ltd, Square Textile Mills Ltd and Sandhani Life Insurance Company Ltd made debut of their scrip-less trading on April 27 while Dhaka Bank Ltd, Southeast Bank Ltd, Pragati Insurance Company Ltd and Pioneer Insurance Company Ltd made debut on May 16.

Apart from these, Mutual Trust Bank Ltd, Standard Bank Ltd, Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd, National Credit and Commerce Bank Ltd, Prime Bank Ltd, Olympic Industries Ltd and Ambee Pharmaceuticals Ltd made their debut of scrip-less trading on June 15.