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Download PDF The Privatisation Commission yesterday approved the bid of US $330 million offered by Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saudi for buying 67.26 percent share of state-run Rupali Bank.
“We will send the approved financial offer to the prime minister by tomorrow for the final approval for the bidding,” said Privatisation Commission Chairman Enam Ahmed Chaudhury yesterday.
On getting the nod from the prime minister, the commission can wrap up the process within the next month, Chaudhury hoped. “As soon as we receive the final approval of the prime minister we will start negotiations and sign the sell and purchase agreement,” he said adding, “The payment will be in full, and after the payment the process of handing over the bank will start.”
Replying to a query, the commission chairman said all the procedures followed so far for selling the bank are transparent.
Asked about the Saudi prince’s offered price for a share, the chairman said he offered around Tk 2700.
Earlier on Sunday, the commission declared the Saudi prince the highest bidder out of two technically fit bidders. The other bidder was, Domestic Investors Consortium, which offered $100 million.
On the same day, an evaluation committee comprising representatives from the Bangladesh Bank, finance ministry, law ministry and consultants from the Privatisation Commission selected the two bidders out of four. Maa International Investment Ltd of Malaysia, and JJ Finance Ltd of the UK were disqualified for technical reasons.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Saudi prince yesterday met the Privatisation Commission chairman to know about the next phase of the procedure.
The government that owns 94 percent of Rupali Bank’s shares decided to sell 67 percent of its shares in order to appease the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, who demanded reforms in the country’s banking sector as a condition for getting loans from them. In March last year, the government assigned the Privatisation Commission to sell the bank.
The total value of assets of Rupali Bank as shown in December 2005 stood at $1.07 billion and it has over 493 branches across the country.
RUPALI BANK’S SHARE PRICE DOWN
Share price of Rupali Bank went down by Tk 66.75 or 4.65 percent to close at Tk 1570.50 yesterday on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) while the price rose as high as Tk 1999 during the day.
On Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), share price of Rupali Bank also declined by Tk 67.50 or 4.10 per cent to close at Tk 1577.75.
A total of 43,600 shares of Rupali Bank worth Tk 7.92 crore were traded on DSE yesterday while 45,930 shares worth Tk 8.10 crore changed hands on CSE.
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