Bangladesh Islamic Centre to sell entire Islami Bank stake

The Bangladesh Islamic Centre, a corporate sponsor of Islami Bank Bangladesh, one of the largest commercial banks in Bangladesh, plans to sell its entire stake in the bank.
In a disclosure posted on the websites of both stock exchanges today, the Islamic Centre announced its intention to sell its entire 34 lakh shares in Islami Bank.
Based on Islami Bank’s current share price of Tk32.60 each at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Thursday, the total value of these shares amounts to Tk11.08 crore.
According to the disclosure, the Islamic Centre plans to sell all the shares within 30 working days through the DSE, the primary bourse in the country, utilising both the secondary and block markets at prevailing market prices.
In the middle of last year, after withdrawing its directorship from the board of Islami Bank, Arabsas Travel and Tourist Agency, a Saudi Arabian investor, sold its holding shares in the bank.
The Arabsas Travel and Tourist Agency, which owned 9.99% shares in the Shariah-based bank, has withdrawn itself from the management and ownership of the lender.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), a multilateral development finance institution focused on Islamic finance, withdrew its directorship from Islami Bank in October last year.
While the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) sold its entire shareholding of the Islami Bank for Tk109 crore in June last year.
The ICB sold its entire holding at a rate of Tk32.6 each through the block market of the DSE, it held 3,34,68,956 shares of the bank, which was 2.07% of the total shares.
While local and foreign investors leaving the bank, a United Arab Emirates-based BTA Finance LTD entered into the board of the bank buying a 5% stake at the beginning of the last year.
According to its shareholding reports for June this year, BTA Finance’s holding was 7.97 crore shares or 4.95%, and the value of the shares is Tk260 crore considering the present market price of the bank’s shares.
According to its first-quarter financials for 2024, its total operating income increased by 13% to Tk1,350 crore, which was Tk1,195 crore at the same time in 2023.
Despite the growth in operating income during the January to March quarter of 2024, its net profit fell by 12.60% to Tk49.92 crore, which is lower than Tk57.12 crore at the same time of the previous year.
On 24 April this year, the private sector lender decided to issue a bond to raise Tk1,000 crore through private placement, which is subject to the approval of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the Bangladesh Bank.
On the other hand, the Islami Bank made a profit of Tk635 crore in 2023, which is up from Tk616 crore in 2022.
Based on its annual profit for 2023, the board of directors of the bank recommended a 10% cash dividend for its shareholders. The dividend is subject to the approval of shareholders in the annual general meeting (AGM).
The AGM of the bank was held on 25 June.
According to its website, Islami Bank Bangladesh is the largest commercial bank in Bangladesh. It is the first Shariah-based Islamic bank in South-East Asia established in March 1983.
The Bank is a joint venture Public Limited Company with majority shareholding by foreign institutions and enlisted with Dhaka & Chattogram stock exchanges in 1985.
At the end of May, out of its total shares, sponsors and directors including local and foreign held 35.89%, the rest shares were held by institutional investors, foreign (other than the foreign directors), and the general public by 42.99%, 12.95% and 8.16% respectively.