April 02, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1429

KARACHI, April 1: The takeover deal of majority stake in Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank (SPCB) — a stock market listed company — by a consortium of International Finance Corporation (IFC), Bank Muscat, Nomura International and Sinthosis Capital was pronounced ‘done’ on Tuesday, as the acquirers went on to take control of 86.55 per cent stake in the bank at $0.47 per share, which aggregated to investment of $213 million.

In rupee terms the acquisition cost was Rs29.30 per share, the same that the consortium had offered to the public on Feb 27 for purchase of their holding to the extent of 7.302 million shares, representing 1.46 per cent of the bank’s paid-up capital.

At the time, the buyers had already entered into share purchase agreements to acquire 425.61 million shares, which constituted 85.10 per cent of the paid-up capital of the ‘target company’.

The public offer was made in pursuant to the listed companies (substantial acquisitions of voting shares and takeovers) Ordinance, 2002.

Banker, Mr Shaukat Tarin is believed to have brokered the deal. An announcement by Saudi-Pak Bank stated that Mr Tarin would assume the position of CEO of the new bank “and implement a plan to make SPCB a significant player in the local market”.

On a happy occasion, it clearly is painful to raise unsavoury issues. But the bank did not clarify in its announcement, whether the clearance by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) had been obtained, which some quarters believed may have been overlooked since out of Saudi-Pak Investment Company’s 68 per cent shareholding, the proportionate share ownership of Government of Pakistan in the bank was 34 per cent. In that respect, some such critics wondered if the deal fell in the ambit of ‘Privatisation’.

About the SPCB, the company said in its statement that it was a subsidiary of the Saudi-Pak Industrial & Agricultural Investment Company (Sapico), a joint venture between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

On Sept 15, 2001, Sapico acquired the institution formerly known as Prudential Bank “with the aim of transforming the bank into a leading, dynamic and premier institution under the banner of Saudi-Pak”.