Kathmandu, January 14
Nabil Bank is going to acquire Nepal Bangladesh Bank. A preliminary agreement was reached between the two banks on Thursday for the acquisition. As per the MoU signed by Nabil Bank to acquire Nepal Bangladesh Bank, the share swap ratio has been fixed at 43 shares of Nabil equal to 100 shares of Nepal Bangladesh Bank. However, the bank has informed that the initial share exchange ratio will be finalized based on the evaluation of the property liability assessment report.
The agreement was signed by Uday Krishna Upadhyaya on behalf of Nabil Bank and Indra
Bahadur Thapa on behalf of Nepal Bangladesh Bank. Banks have set a target of completing the acquisition within five months. After the acquisition of Nepal Bangladesh Bank by Nabil Bank, the bank’s initial capital is Rs. 43 billion, paid-up capital is Rs. 22.5 billion and loan amount is Rs. 3 trillion, the deposit amount is said to be 314 billion.
According to the bank, the size of non-fund-based business will be over Rs 130 billion. ‘The
branch network will immediately reach 235. The number of customers will be over 1.6 million. Nabil Bank has been promoting its business by focusing on sustainable banking and digital banking in line with the needs of the customers, ‘the bank said in a statement.
Both the banks said that the agreement was reached keeping in view the policy adopted by the Nepal Rastra Bank to encourage mergers and acquisitions and the long-term strategic plan of the banks. Nabil Bank, which is in the leading position in terms of brand, is confident that it will be leading in all indices among the commercial banks after acquiring Nepal Bangladesh Bank, a leader in non-fund-based business.
This is the second time the central bank has called for mergers and acquisitions between
commercial banks. Earlier, Global IME Bank and Janata Bank merged. However, the two banks had been engaged in discussions for some time. The two banks have formed a joint merger / acquisition committee and as per the recommendation of the committee, the agreement on acquisition has been unanimously passed by the meeting of the board of directors of both the banks.
Asha Rana Adhikari, Director of Nabil Bank and Ananta Poudyal, Director of Nabil Bank were present on behalf of Nabil Bank under the coordination of Director Uday Krishna Upadhyaya. Similarly, a joint merger / acquisition committee was formed on behalf of Nepal Bangladesh Bank comprising of Director Mohammad Shal Alam Sarwar, Director Indra Bahadur Thapa, Director Aman Shah and Chief Secretary of Nabil Bank Manoj Gyawali. The MoU signing ceremony in Kathmandu was attended by the directors and high-ranking officials of both the banks.
By Karuna Thapa
