Saudi buyer fails to respond by extended deadline

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Refayet Ullah Mirdha
The government has not received any response from Saudi prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, the highest bidder of largely state-owned Rupali Bank, about a deal by the deadline that expired July 15 last (Sunday).
Now, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) says it will wait for some time before taking any decision.
A high-level meeting earlier this month 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.
On Sunday, talking to the FE, a MoF senior official said the higher authority of the government has instructed to wait for some more days for taking any decision on the future of the deal.
He said the prince or his representatives did not reply until Sunday to the letter requesting a response on signing of sale and purchase deal on the transfer of the ownership of the bank. The Saudi buyer had failed to sign the final deal within agreed deadline of May 31 last.
"We will wait for some more days for signing the final deal on handing over of the ownership of the bank to the prince although the ministry announced July 15 as deadline earlier. We are following the directives of the higher authorities of the government," the MoF senior official told the FE without further elaboration.
Earlier, the MoF senior official said if the prince did not respond before July 15, the security money worth US$100,000 for participating in the bidding will be forfeited.
"If the deal is not signed with the prince, the ministry will sell the bank either through the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) or through re-tendering process," the finance ministry official said earlier.
When asked another senior PC official said the PC is still hopeful about a deal with the prince.
"The PC has already completed almost all formalities for striking the final deal. Now it is the matter of the prince and the Bangladesh government to complete the deal," he said.