Vicar International to buy 4.22% stake at SBAC

Currently, Vicar’s managing partner Mohammad Nazmul Haq is serving as a director at the board of private sector lender nominated by Techno Electricals Ltd

Vicar International will buy over 4% stake, or around 3.48 crore shares of South Bangla Agricultural and Commerce Bank (SBAC) worth around Tk28.90 crore calculating the current price for each share.

Currently, Vicar’s managing partner Mohammad Nazmul Haq is serving as a director at the board of private sector lender nominated by Techno Electricals Ltd, according to annual report of the bank for 2023. 

Techno Electricals holds a 4.71% stake or 3.44 crore shares of the SBAC Bank, as per the report.

Nazmul told TBS, “A director of SBAC declared to sell his shares and I will buy them. I will also buy some of the shares from others.”

In a two separate disclosures on 5 September and 18 September 2024 published on the websites of stock exchanges, where the Vicar International expressed its buying intimation of the shares through the block market at prevailing market price.

Vicar International is a private Bangladeshi company specialises in supplying, installing and servicing of high voltage and low voltage electrical equipment. 

It supplies services to all major local power utilities of Bangladesh mainly Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO), Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Rural Power Company (RPCL), Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), etc.

Vicar International is a client of Prime Bank Securities. The shares will be bought through the securities house.

In disclosure from the SBAC Bank today, Prime Bank Securities informed that Vicar International expressed its intention to buy 98.21 lakh shares of SBAC Bank at prevailing market price in the block market. 

Following the announcements, SBAC Bank’s shares increased by 1.22% to Tk8.90 at the close on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) today. 

Two weeks ago, on 5 September, in another disclosure said that Vicar International expressed its intention to buy 2.50 crore shares of SBAC Bank at prevailing market price in the block market.

A month ago on 18 August, Thermax Textile Mills — a concern of Thermax Group — expressed its intention to exit SBAC Bank as it has announced to sell its 99% stake in the private sector lender, according to the DSE.

As per that disclosure of the bank, Thermax Textile will sell 3.48 crore of its 3.51 crore shares of the lender at the prevailing price in the block market through the DSE.

Abdul Kadir Molla, chairman of Thermax Textile and founder of Thermax Group, was a director and chairman of the bank.

Molla’s wife Nasima Begum served as a director in the bank, nominated by Thermax Textile.

According to officials at the bank, Molla and his wife held shares, but no more directors in the board.

Nasima retired from the board in the last annual general meeting, and Molla resigned from the board in March. 

SBAC raised Tk100 crore from the stock market.

Since the bank’s founding in 2013, SM Amjad Hossain served as the chairman of SBAC Bank until he became embroiled in financial scandals in 2021.

His wife Begum Sufia Amjad and his acquaintance Captain M Moazzam Hossain were also named directors of the bank.

Under Amjad’s leadership, the bank was listed on the stock exchanges in July 2021. 

Later, a Bangladesh Bank investigation uncovered evidence of corruption and money laundering involving Amjad and Moazzam.

In March 2021, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) froze the bank accounts of Amjad, his wife Sufia Amjad, and daughter Tazri Amjad, on money laundering allegations.

On 19 August 2021, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) decided to investigate the allegations against Amjad Hossain and Moazzam. 

In September 2021, he stepped down as the bank’s chairman, citing personal reasons. Later, his wife and Moazzam also resigned from their respective roles in the bank.

After Amjad’s departure, the bank’s board elected Molla as chairman. 

As of 31 August shareholding report for SBAC Bank, sponsor-directors held 68.19% of the shares, institutional investors 16.71%, and general investors 15.10%.

In 2023, it made a profit of Tk54.63 crore, paid a 2% cash dividends to its shareholders for 2023. 

In the first half of 2024, it made a profit of Tk38.16 crore, which was Tk33.62 crore in the January to June of 2023.