IFIC agrees to sell its stake in NBB for NPR619cr

IFIC Bank says it has agreed with Sarika Chaudhary, a Nepalese resident, to sell its entire stake in Nepal Bangladesh Bank (NBB) Limited for more than Nepalese Rupee or NPR 618.70 crore to her.

In January this year, the local bank had said it decided to sell its 40.41 per cent stake in the Nepalese bank as a memorandum of understanding was signed in this regard with a prospective buyer.

Its decision on selling stake in the NBB came after 28 years as it no longer found its business viable in Nepal, according to IFIC Bank.

“They have decided to sell entire promoter shares of NBB held and owned by IFIC Bank Limited as of date to Ms. Sarika Chaudhary, resident of Ravi Bhawan, Kathmandu, Nepal at a purchase consideration of NPR 6,187,007,568 subject to approvals of Nepal Rastra Bank and other regulatory authorities,” said the IFIC Bank in a filing with the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Monday.

Sarika Chaudhary is the wife of Nepal’s wealthiest person Binod Chaudhury who is the first businessman from the Himalayan nation to enter the Forbes billionaire list. Binod is the chairman of Chaudhury Group, a major promoter of Nabil Bank.

Chaudhary Group expressed its interest to buy the IFIC Bank's stake in the NBBL after the Nepal’s central bank had found NB Group, one of the main promoters of NBBL, to be unfit to buy the company’s shares on sale, following a decision by the foreign shareholder group to leave, Annapurna Express reported on November 18, 2021.

IFIC had announced on July 13 last year that it intends to sell its stake in the bank and called on prospective groups to apply to buy the shares, it said.

NBB started its banking operation in 1994, and was established as a joint venture bank with IFIC Bank.

On Monday, IFIC Bank’s share price gained 1.72 per cent to Tk 17.7 on the DSE.

According to Nepal Stock Exchange, the total number of shares of NBB is 9.48 crore. Of the total shares, institutional investors hold 41.35 per cent, individual investors 10.30 per cent, general investors 9 per cent and individual general investors 39.35 per cent shares in the bank.