Kathmandu District Court issues stay order on selling NBB shares by IFIC Bank
Despite the stay order, NBB signed an agreement on Thursday to merge with Nabil Bank after its foreign partner IFIC Bank left following sale of its shares
The Kathmandu District Court (KDC) on Wednesday issued a stay order on selling Nepal Bangladesh Bank's (NBB) stake by IFIC Bank to Chaudhary Group – a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Nepal, holding the major share of Nabil Bank in the South Asian Himalayan country.
The single bench of Justice Ram Chandra Poudel of the KDC passed the verdict over a writ filed by Sunrise Bank Limited Chairman Motilal Dugad who claimed that IFIC Bank breached the agreement made to sell the promoter shares, reports Nepali media.
IFIC Bank Managing Director Shah A Sarwar, also an NBB director, did not answer any phone calls made to talk regarding the agreement.
However, despite the stay order, NBB signed an agreement on Thursday to merge with Nabil Bank after its foreign partner IFIC Bank left following the sale of its shares. At present, Chaudhary Group owns 51% shares in Nabil Bank.
Following the acquisition plan, it has been agreed that all business transactions of NBB will be in the name of Nabil Bank and NBB's current board members will remain as the board of directors, according to a notice issued by Nabil Bank.
Earlier on 2 January, IFIC Bank announced on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website that they signed a memorandum and understanding with a prospective buyer of Nepal to sell its entire holdings in NBB Bank.
But IFIC Bank authorities did not disclose the buyer's name and also declined to make any comment over this issue.
Nepalese newspapers, however, have reported that Chaudhary Group has signed an agreement to buy the IFIC Bank's shares in NBB after the central bank of Nepal rejected the buying proposal of NB Group – a major stakeholder of NBB Bank.
In July last year, IFIC Bank announced that they would repatriate the fund by selling its stake of around 40.09% of NBB.
NBB Bank's share price on the Nepal Stock Exchange went up by 30% over the past 15 days to stand at 408 Nepali rupees. At this rate, the value of IFIC Bank's investment in NBB stands at around Tk1,180 crore.
NBB was established in 1994 as a joint venture between Nepalese NB Group and Bangladeshi IFIC Bank.
At present, IFIC has controlling power over NBB having three representatives in the bank's seven-member board.