Rumour pushes up Rupali share price

FE Team | Published: August 02, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
A rumour about the handing over of the largely state-owned Rupali Bank to top Saudi bidder sent the share price of the bank soaring by 22.31 in trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Wednesday.
The share of the Rupali Bank closed at Tk 1429.50 Wednesday against Tk 1168.75 on the previous session (Tuesday).
Investors rushed to buying the bank share following a news aired by a private TV channel on Tuesday saying the Saudi prince has obtained a month's time for taking over the largely state-owned Rupali Bank.
But when contacted, chairman of the Privatisation Commission (PC) Abu Solaiman Chowdhury Wednesday said the PC has not given the Saudi prince any fresh time for the bank take-over.
"The PC has received an e-mail from someone July 15 last showing willingness of buying the bank. But anyone can send such e-mail. We do not rely on such message. We need it in black and white," Abu Solaiman Chowdhury told the FE Wednesday.
The government earlier said it had not received any response from Saudi prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud about a purchase/sale deal by the deadline that expired July 15 last.
Now, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) says it will wait for some time before taking any decision.
A high-level meeting set the July 15 deadline for the Saudi prince to respond in writing for taking over of the ownership of the Rupali Bank's more than 93 per cent share at a cost of US$458 million.
A few days ago shares of the Rupali Bank were traded on the DSE more than Tk 2400 on the news of handing over of the bank to the Saudi prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud.
The share price of the bank that recently climbed to Tk 2,400 on the news of its imminent transfer started declining due to delay in signing of the final deal with the prince.
On the other hand, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DSE Salahuddin Ahmed Khan told the FE that he did not receive any price sensitive information about the bank from the PC.
"The DSE had sent several letters to the PC to know whether there was any price sensitive information for the price hike of the bank. But, in most of the cases the PC did not send any response," DSE, CEO said.