Where Bangladesh's Mutual Funds Put Their Money: The Most-Held Stocks Report

Financial Mindset | Stock Market & Financial Research | 27 October 2026

Data source: ReturnKoto? "Most-held stocks" page (https://returnkoto.com/stocks), built from the quarterly portfolio statements of 38 open-end funds. Everything below is my reading of that page; I did not re-check the numbers against each fund's own statement. This is research and education, not investment advice.

Key Takeaways

• Marico Bangladesh is the most widely held stock. It sits in the disclosed top holdings of 26 of the 33 funds that name listed stocks.
• BRAC Bank is where the biggest money sits. About ৳100.7 crore across 23 funds, roughly 16% of all the named-stock money on the page (৳623.0 crore in total).
• Four names carry almost half the money. BRAC Bank, Beximco Pharma, Marico and Square together hold about ৳283 crore, about 45% of the total.
• Pharma and banks dominate. DSE's "Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals" sector (৳224.4 crore, 36%) and Banks (৳207.8 crore, 33%) make up about 69% of the named-stock money.
• The "pharma" number is inflated by classification. Marico and Reckitt are consumer-goods companies that DSE files under pharma and chemicals. The true drug-maker part (Square, Beximco, Renata, Ibn Sina) is roughly ৳150 crore, about a quarter.
• Many funds are near-clones of each other. Ekush's two funds share about 71% of portfolio weight; the VIPB funds, EDGE funds and CWT funds overlap 60-70% within each family.
• Paper winners and losers are far apart. BRAC Bank is about 56% above the funds' purchase cost; United Power is about 56% below.
• Grameenphone is the notable quarterly exit. Six funds dropped it out of their top holdings in April-June 2026, and it sits about 22% below cost.

1. What This Data Is (and What It Is Not)

BSEC requires asset managers to publish portfolio statements within 30 days of each quarter-end. ReturnKoto? collects these, verifies them, and ranks the listed stocks by how many funds hold them among their largest disclosed holdings.

Before reading any number, keep these caveats in mind:

• Top holdings only. The page uses each fund's largest disclosed holdings. A stock missing from a fund's top list may still be owned in small size.
• Mixed dates. 25 of the 33 statements are dated 30 June 2026. The rest (EDGE, Shanta, HFAML funds) are dated 30 September 2026. Each fund's own date is printed beside its weight.
• Statement prices, not today's prices. "Average cost" is the fund's own average purchase price and "statement market" is the price in that same statement. Neither is today's DSE quote.
• "vs what they paid" is unrealized. It compares statement value with average cost. It is not a fund's realized profit, and funds that bought at different times show very different costs for the same stock.
• Different weight bases. Some funds report weights on cost, others on market value, so percentages compare well within a fund and only roughly across funds.
• Excluded assets. Bonds, sukuk, term deposits, preference shares and mutual-fund units are not in the stock ranking. Five of the 38 funds disclose only bonds and deposits, so they are absent.
• Name differences. The page lists "LafargeHolcim Bangladesh", "Heidelberg Materials Bangladesh" and "Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh" as separate lines. Check whether any of these are the same company before drawing conclusions about cement.

2. The Leaderboard: Top 15 by Number of Funds

Rank	Stock	Sector (DSE)	Funds holding	Money held	Statement value vs cost
1	Marico Bangladesh	Pharma & Chemicals	26	৳61.7 cr	+12.0%
2	BRAC Bank	Bank	23	৳100.7 cr	+55.8%
3	Square Pharmaceuticals	Pharma & Chemicals	21	৳54.1 cr	+1.1%
4	Renata	Pharma & Chemicals	20	৳26.2 cr	-16.4%
5	Jamuna Bank	Bank	18	৳20.0 cr	+0.2%
6	LafargeHolcim Bangladesh	Cement	17	৳28.9 cr	+2.3%
7	Prime Bank	Bank	16	৳37.8 cr	+11.8%
8	Beximco Pharmaceuticals	Pharma & Chemicals	15	৳66.5 cr	+18.7%
9	BSRM Steels	Engineering	15	৳19.5 cr	+26.8%
10	Berger Paints Bangladesh	Miscellaneous	14	৳38.3 cr	+2.2%
11	Grameenphone	Telecom	13	৳19.5 cr	-22.2%
12	Robi Axiata	Telecom	12	৳28.1 cr	+1.8%
13	Eastern Bank	Bank	10	৳19.1 cr	-3.4%
14	British American Tobacco Bangladesh	Food & Allied	9	৳10.2 cr	-24.7%
15	Olympic Industries	Food & Allied	8	৳13.4 cr	-1.8%

Two things stand out. First, "most widely held" and "most money" are different rankings. Marico wins on breadth, but BRAC Bank (৳100.7 crore) and Beximco (৳66.5 crore) both hold more money. Second, the weights can be large. Marico reaches 17.06% of a single fund (EDGE Al-Amin Shariah Consumer Fund), BRAC Bank 18.48% (EDGE Bangladesh Mutual Fund) and Beximco 19.71% (EDGE Al-Amin).

3. Where the Money Sits: Sector Map

Sector	Money	Share	Funds
Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals	৳224.4 cr	36%	33
Bank	৳207.8 cr	33%	27
Telecommunication	৳48.4 cr	8%	21
Miscellaneous	৳41.5 cr	7%	21
Cement	৳32.6 cr	5%	17
Engineering	৳24.7 cr	4%	18
Food & Allied	৳23.6 cr	4%	14
Insurance	৳8.2 cr	1%	5
Fuel & Power	৳4.4 cr	1%	9
Financial Institutions	৳2.4 cr	0%	3

Reading the sector table honestly. On the page, Marico (৳61.7 crore) and Reckitt Benckiser (৳9.9 crore) sit inside "Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals". Add up Square (৳54.1 cr), Beximco (৳66.5 cr), Renata (৳26.2 cr) and Ibn Sina (৳5.5 cr) and you get about ৳152 crore, about 24% of the total. On that stricter view, banks (33%) are the single largest sector exposure, and the fund industry's "pharma bet" is smaller than the headline suggests.

The other pattern is what is missing. Textile, IT and tannery barely register (a few crore each), and the power sector is small. Mutual-fund money is concentrated in a handful of large, liquid, dividend-paying names.

4. Concentration: A Few Names Carry the Industry

The page's named-stock total is ৳623.0 crore.

• BRAC Bank ৳100.7 cr (16.2%)
• Beximco Pharma ৳66.5 cr (10.7%)
• Marico ৳61.7 cr (9.9%)
• Square ৳54.1 cr (8.7%)

These four add to ৳283.0 crore, about 45.4% of everything. BRAC Bank alone is nearly half of all the bank money on the page (৳100.7 crore out of ৳207.8 crore). When several funds hold the same few stocks, a fall in one of them hits many funds at once, and the "I own several funds, so I am diversified" idea weakens.

5. Paper Gains and Paper Losses

The page shows how far each stock's statement value sits above or below what funds paid.

Biggest gains vs cost (stocks with at least 4 funds):

• BRAC Bank +55.8% (23 funds)
• Pubali Bank +48.9% (6 funds)
• BSRM Steels +26.8% (15 funds)
• Beximco Pharma +18.7% (15 funds)
• Marico +12.0% (26 funds)
• Prime Bank +11.8% (16 funds)

Biggest losses vs cost:

• United Power Generation & Distribution -56.1% (5 funds)
• Singer Bangladesh -39.6% (5 funds)
• British American Tobacco Bangladesh -24.7% (9 funds)
• Grameenphone -22.2% (13 funds)
• Green Delta Insurance -20.6% (5 funds)
• Renata -16.4% (20 funds)
• Pioneer Insurance -14.9% (5 funds)

(LankaBangla Securities, held by two funds, is down about 46.6%, and Craftsman Footwear shows +200% on a tiny ৳3.6 lakh position, so I leave both out of the main reading.)

Why average cost deserves attention. The same stock can look very different depending on which fund bought it and when. Renata's statement price is around ৳455 in most funds. VIPB funds bought near ৳410-426, so they sit above cost. LankaBangla's funds show average costs of about ৳921-948, and UCB AML First Mutual Fund shows about ৳928, so they sit roughly 50% below cost. Same stock, same price, opposite outcomes, only because of entry timing. When you compare funds, look at when they built positions, not just what they own.

6. Stock-by-Stock Notes

Marico Bangladesh (26 funds, ৳61.7 cr, +12.0%). The consensus pick. It is a top holding in 7 of the 8 Shariah funds and is the largest holding in several consumer-themed funds. Because 26 funds hold it, it is also the single clearest example of herding: if funds ever rotate out, the selling would come from many hands at once.

BRAC Bank (23 funds, ৳100.7 cr, +55.8%). The largest pool of money and the strongest paper return of the widely held names. Weights run from about 3% to 18.5% of a fund. Shariah funds do not hold it, which is why it appears in 23 funds rather than 33.

Square Pharmaceuticals (21 funds, ৳54.1 cr, +1.1%). Held at a steady 8-10% weight in many funds, but the money has barely moved above cost. This is a "quality but not cheap" signal in the data: funds own it for stability rather than recent price gains. Industry context from my pharma research: Square holds about 17% of the IQVIA-measured market, with exports of only about 4% of standalone revenue in FY24.

Renata (20 funds, ৳26.2 cr, -16.4%). Widely held yet underwater overall. The loss is mostly an entry-price story, as shown above, and the data does not tell us why funds bought where they did.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals (15 funds, ৳66.5 cr, +18.7%). The second-largest pool of money and a strong performer. Weights reach about 19.7% in one Shariah consumer fund, which is a very concentrated bet.

Grameenphone (13 funds, ৳19.5 cr, -22.2%) and Robi (12 funds, ৳28.1 cr, +1.8%). Telecom funds are mixed. Grameenphone dropped out of six funds' top holdings last quarter (five VIPB funds and IDLC AML Shariah). From my telecom research: GP's FY25 profit was about Tk2,958 crore against Tk3,630 crore in FY24, and operators face a heavy tax and spectrum burden (taxes and fees take roughly 55% of revenue by one estimate in my earlier report). Fund behaviour is consistent with that pressure, though the page cannot prove the reason.

British American Tobacco Bangladesh (9 funds, ৳10.2 cr, -24.7%). A high-priced stock that several funds bought well above where it trades in these statements (LankaBangla funds show costs near ৳475-604 versus about ৳219).

7. What Changed in April-June 2026

The page compares each fund's latest statement with the one before it. Remember: entering the top holdings is not the same as buying, and leaving is not the same as selling out.

Entered top holdings:

• Berger Paints Bangladesh: 5 funds
• Eastern Housing: 3 funds
• LafargeHolcim Bangladesh: 3 funds
• Olympic Industries: 3 funds
• BSRM Limited: 2 funds
• Bangladesh Shipping Corporation: 2 funds
• Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical: 2 funds
• Jamuna Bank: 2 funds

Left top holdings:

• Grameenphone: 6 funds
• Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical: 6 funds
• Apex Footwear: 3 funds
• Bangladesh Export Import Company: 3 funds
• Bangladesh Shipping Corporation: 2 funds
• Bangladesh Submarine Cables: 2 funds
• Berger Paints Bangladesh: 2 funds
• Eastern Bank: 2 funds

Net picture. Berger Paints is the clear net entrant (5 in, 2 out). Ibn Sina is a net exit (2 in, 6 out), and Grameenphone is the largest single exit with no offsetting entries. Bangladesh Shipping Corporation moved in and out equally (2 each), so treat that as noise. Funds also rotated within mid-cap and cement names, which suggests a modest tilt toward consumer and construction-linked companies and away from telecom.

8. What Shariah Funds Hold

The eight Shariah-compliant funds are limited to a narrow list. Most common holdings:

• Marico Bangladesh: 7 of 8 funds
• LafargeHolcim Bangladesh: 6 of 8
• Renata: 6 of 8
• Beximco Pharmaceuticals: 5 of 8
• Berger Paints Bangladesh: 5 of 8
• Grameenphone: 5 of 8
• Olympic Industries: 4 of 8
• Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical: 3 of 8

Banks and insurers are largely absent, so the list leans toward consumer goods, pharma, cement and telecom. For a Shariah-minded investor the practical point is that the choice of stocks is narrower, which makes overlap between Shariah funds even more likely.

9. Fund Overlap: How Many Different Funds Do You Really Own?

The page measures overlap as the sum of the smaller weight of each shared stock between two funds. It is a lower bound on how similar two portfolios are.

Highest overlap (near-clones):

• Ekush First Unit Fund and Ekush Growth Fund: about 71.4% (13 shared holdings)
• EDGE AMC Growth Fund and EDGE Bangladesh Mutual Fund: about 70.8% (8 shared)
• CWT Opportunities Fund and CWT Sadharan Bima Growth Fund: about 69.0% (11 shared)
• BCB ICL Growth Fund and ICL Balanced Fund: about 67.8% (16 shared)
• CWT Emerging Bangladesh First Growth Fund and CWT Opportunities Fund: about 67.4% (12 shared)
• VIPB funds against each other: about 61-64% (8 shared)

Lowest overlap (best diversifiers among equity-leaning pairs):

• CWT Emerging Bangladesh First Growth Fund and HFAML-ACME Employees' Unit Fund: about 0.0% (no shared named stocks)
• HFAML Unit Fund and IDLC Balanced Fund: about 1.7% (1 shared: LafargeHolcim)
• EDGE Al-Amin Shariah Consumer Fund and HFAML Shariah Unit Fund: about 3.4% (1 shared: Renata)
• CWT Community Bank Shariah Fund and Shanta Amanah Shariah Fund: about 9.2% (3 shared)

Lesson: two funds from the same fund house often behave like one fund with two names. If you split money between, say, two Ekush funds or two VIPB funds, you have not diversified much. Mixing across fund houses (and across Shariah and conventional mandates) is what lowers doubled-up stock risk.

10. Connecting the Dots with My Pharma and Telecom Research

Pharma and LDC graduation. Pharma is the heart of fund portfolios, so the LDC graduation question matters. Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate on 24 November 2026, but it asked the UN on 18 February 2026 for a three-year extension, and the General Assembly decision was still pending as of my 25 October 2026 report. Please check the final resolution before acting on any date. RAPID's modelling suggests only 5-10% of drugs made today are patented, domestic prices are unlikely to rise much, and export losses from subsidy removal are modest (up to about 6.9% of export earnings). Listed leaders have limited export dependence: Square's exports were about 4% of standalone revenue in FY24, and Beximco's about 6.7% in FY24 and about 8.3% in FY25. The bigger long-run risk I flagged was consolidation, where small firms are squeezed. That fits what mutual funds are doing: they hold the big names (Square, Beximco, Renata) and have been trimming a small one (Ibn Sina).

Telecom. My telecom research showed low growth, heavy taxation and spectrum cost, and a big gap between Grameenphone's profit and Robi's. Funds hold both, but Grameenphone is down about 22% against cost and was dropped by six funds last quarter, while Robi is roughly flat to cost.

11. What a Retail Investor Can Learn (Not Advice)

1. Count your overlap. If you own a fund and also buy BRAC Bank, Square or Marico directly, you may be doubling up on the same few stocks.
2. Do not treat "most held" as "best". Marico is the most widely held, but Grameenphone and Renata are widely held too and sit below cost.
3. Compare entry timing. The same stock gives different results depending on average cost. A fund's past result is not the stock's future.
4. Watch sector classification. "Pharma" on DSE includes consumer-goods firms, so check what a sector label really contains.
5. Use the quarterly changes as a signal, not a command. A stock entering or leaving a top list can mean many things, including price moves and cash flows.
6. Respect the data's limits. Top holdings, mixed dates and statement prices mean this is a snapshot, not a live portfolio.

12. Risks and Limitations of This Analysis

• The data covers the largest disclosed holdings only and not complete portfolios.
• Statement dates differ (30 June vs 30 September 2026), and prices are statement prices, not current DSE quotes.
• Weights use a mix of cost and market bases.
• ReturnKoto? is a third-party aggregator and I have not audited each statement. Its own note says partners may pay it referral fees but never for rankings or returns.
• Company comments in sections 6 and 10 come from my earlier project reports (RAPID brief, company results, telecom deep dive) and carry the limits stated in those reports.

13. Bottom Line

Bangladeshi mutual funds are, in practice, a bet on a short list of blue chips: BRAC Bank, Beximco, Marico, Square and a few banks and consumer names. That is comforting for liquidity, but the heavy overlap means you should check what your funds actually share before assuming diversification. The best data point for a careful reader is not the ranking itself but the spread between funds: same stocks, very different entry prices, and some near-identical portfolios under different names.

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Source and Disclaimer

Source: ReturnKoto? Most-held stocks by Bangladeshi mutual funds (https://returnkoto.com/stocks), accessed 27 October 2026; supporting context from my project reports on the Bangladesh pharma industry (LDC graduation) and the Bangladesh telecom market.

Disclaimer: This is for research and education. It is not investment advice. Past results do not predict future returns. Check current prices and each fund's latest statement before making any decision.