KARACHI, Aug 20: The consortium of Ibrahim Leasing Ltd. and Ibrahim Group which has injected Rs14.2 billion into the capital of Allied Bank of Pakistan for acquiring 325 million additional shares assumed the control of the bank on Friday.

State Bank Governor Dr. Ishrat Husain handed over the relevant documents to Mr. Muhammad Naeem Mukhtar, attorney of the consortium at a ceremony held at the SBP headquarters.

Deputy governor Mr. Tawfiq Husain and senior SBP officials, representatives of the ABL and the consortium were also present on the occasion, says a press release issued by the SBP.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Husain termed the successful reconstruction of ABL as beneficial both for the organization as well as for the banking industry. He expressed the hope that the transfer of the management of the ABL to a strategic investor will turn around the bank and usher in a new era of growth and stability in the banking sector.

He stressed upon the new board of the bank to run it professionally, prudently and with the highest standards of corporate governance. On July 23 SBP had auctioned 325 million shares of ABL as part of its reconstruction strategy.

In that auction the consortium of Ibrahim Leasing and Ibrahim Group had turned out to be successful bidders as they had offered the highest bid of Rs14.2 billion for acquiring 325 million ABL shares that constitutes more than 75 per cent of its revised capital.

The federal government approved the scheme for reconstruction of ABL on July 24 and after its approval the SBP issued the letter of acceptance to the consortium on July 26.

On receipt of full payment of Rs14.2 billion on August 19 and after verification of the sources of funds by the SBP, the control of the bank has been handed over to the consortium.

With the reconstruction of the ABL the process to privatize four out of five major state-run banks has completed. One of them National Bank remains in the government control but a small percentage of its shares have also been sold out to public through stock exchange.