Final deal on Rupali Bank likely next month

FE Team | Published: October 11, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar, the would-be buyer of state-run Rupali Bank Ltd, is aiming to close the deal by November, a top aide to the prince said Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
"To expedite this, a royal Saudi team comprising senior business advisers to His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Bandar, will arrive towards the end of the month (October) for final negotiations," Sir Frank Peters, senior adviser to the prince, told the news agency in an exclusive e-mail interview Wednesday.
Peters said he had met the Rupali managing director and other management level senior officials Tuesday to discuss 'snags' that had held up the signing of the Sales-Purchase Agreement (SPA).
"I told them (senior management) that HRH Prince Bandar had set a new deadline (of November) to finalise negotiations and to take over the bank," he said.
Peters said, "Most of the hard work has been done and I anticipate it won't be too long before HRH makes a public statement on the subject."
"The speed at which the bank is scheduled to be handed over depends entirely on the government of Bangladesh," he said.
"The Prince Bandar team is ready for a smooth, swift takeover that will be of mutual benefit to both the parties, but of enormous benefit to the economy of this nation and its people," he said.
Abu Solaiman Chowdhury, chairman of the Privatisation Commission, said his office was ready to close the deal.
"We've been ready for a long time to hand the bank over to the buyer. Now it depends on them (buyers)," Chowdhury said.
He also said he had not received a written notice of the proposed deadline.
Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud, who won the purchase bid for 67.26 per cent share of the bank at $330 million in 2006, also offered to buy the remaining 26 per cent government stake for $128 million in February. Private investors hold the remaining 6.0 per cent stake in the bank.
The government announced on Feb 22 that it would sell the bank's remaining 26 per cent government-held shares to the prince.
But the handover of Rupali was delayed by outstanding issues between the two parties.
Peters said Prince Bandar was keen to invest in Bangladesh and looked forward to concluding the Rupali handover deal.