Sovereign Infrastructure Group (SIG), a US-based investment firm, will initially invest $40 million or BDT 340 crore in Bangladesh Financial and Investment Company or BD Finance, a local financial institution. An agreement has recently been reached between the two organizations in this regard.
In that case, the US company may be added to the board of directors of BD Finance. However, it has not been announced when SIG will be added to the board of BD Finance.
The issue of foreign investment in BD Finance is now quite addressed in the country’s stock market. The company notified the investors about the agreement with SIG on April 11 through the website of the stock exchange. SIG is keen to acquire at least a 4 percent stake in BD Finance as per the agreement
In the last few days, BD Finance has advanced to the top level of transactions on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s main stock market, on the news that foreign companies are purchasing shares of BD Finance. The company was the second most traded company on the DSE on Monday, 19 April. Shares valued at about 35 crores of the company were exchanged on the day.
Apart from the acquisition of shares, SIG has also expressed interest in financing about USD 2 billion or Tk 17,000 crore in the infrastructure sector of Bangladesh. BD Finance will portray as the local representative of SIG in that investment.
At present, the total debt of BD Finance is about Tk 1,300 crore. And the paid-up capital is 177 crore.
Kaiser Hamid, managing director of BD Finance, said, “Domestic and foreign banks will be responsible for managing the bulk of this investment. We (BD Finance) will be responsible for managing a small amount of investment. Manpower is being recruited for this as we are trying to increase the capacity. The investment of four million dollars in BD Finance will help to repay high-interest bank loans. All the work will be completed after the approval of the central bank.”
The agreement on financing Bangladesh’s infrastructure and BD finance was recently settled in the United States. It was signed by Kaiser Hamid, MD of BD Finance and Larry Knox, co-founder and CEO of SIG.
SIG seeks to provide equity assistance and loans to the government and public-private partnerships and financing in special economic zones and export processing zones.
SIG is Initially interested in investing 40 million dollars in BD Finance, which will be funded in eco-friendly projects, small and medium entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, social housing and economic empowerment of third gender individuals.
