Economic Reporter :
The Bangladesh Islamic Centre (BIC), corporate sponsor of Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC, has expressed intention to sell its entire holding of 34,00,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
DSE published the disclosure on Thursday. As per the June 27 market price of Tk 32.60, the values of the total share are Tk 11.8 crore.
BIC was established by late AKM Nazir Ahmed, was Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami until his date on January 7, 2014. The organisation publishes religious books, especially based on the party’s syllabus.
BIC Director Md Shamiul Haque Farooqui told that “We are facing a funding crisis, and that is why we decided to sell our all share of Islami Bank.”
A central leader of Jamaat-e-Islami told seeking anonymity, “As the BIC is an individual and independent entity; their officials know why they are selling the shares. But they are yet to discuss the issue with us.”
He further confirmed that despite selling most of the shares of Jamat-baked individuals or institution, still a significant amount of shares in their hands.
Islami bank was established by Jamat leader Mir Quasem Ali on March 13, 1983 as the first Islamic Bank in South East Asia. He was hanged on 3 September 2016 for war crimes committed during the liberation war.
Foreign investors provided 70 per cent of the bank’s capital when it was established, but after Quasem Ali’s hanged, government-backed businesses takeover the bank.
The bank is currently the country’s largest private sector lender, witnessed record transactions worth Tk 524.8 crore of its shares on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) in September last year.
The hefty share transactions took place as Arabsas Travel & Tourist Agency, a Saudi investor of Islami Bank Bangladesh, sold its total shares from the Bangladeshi Shariah-compliant bank.
Before its departure, Arabsas was a director of Islami Bank with a shareholding of 9.99 per cent.
CSE also settled on green terrain Tuesday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – gaining 20.2 points and 35.4 points, respectively.
According to the CSE data, investors traded a total of 16.19 crore Islami Bank shares in five transactions worth Tk 524.8 crore on Tuesday. All shares were traded at Tk 32.30 each.
Meanwhile, only 258 Islami Bank shares were traded on the day on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
In the last month, Islami Bank Bangladesh informed shareholders about a big shuffle in its board of directors, which consists of the bank’s shareholding report of sponsors and directors for the month of July 2023.