 has accorded its in-principle approval/acceptance of the non-binding indicative offer received"){kind=link}
Bank Alfalah Limited’s board has given a preliminary thumbs-up to Bank Asia Limited’s offer to buy its operations in Bangladesh. Bank Alfalah told the stock market about this on Wednesday.
They mentioned that this deal needs to follow all the rules and get the right approvals. Bank Alfalah now plans to ask the State Bank of Pakistan if Bank Asia can start checking out Bank Alfalah’s Bangladesh operations.
Just yesterday, Bank Alfalah Limited announced its plan to buy an 84.5 percent share in Samba Bank Limited. This comes after they first made an offer to buy Samba back in March 2024.
According to Bank Alfalah’s notice, the deal must follow all the laws and rules and get the right approvals.
The notice says, “Now we’ll ask the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) if Bank Asia can start checking out Bank Alfalah’s operations in Bangladesh.”
If everything goes well, this acquisition would mean Bank Alfalah owning about 84.51 percent of Samba. But it depends on them doing thorough checks, signing official agreements, getting approvals, and following all the rules.
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When this news was reported, Bank Alfalah’s shares were trading at Rs. 54.6, which was up by Rs. 1.01 or 1.88 percent. They had a turnover of 871,617 shares on Wednesday.
Bank Asia was founded in 1999 and grew by acquiring branches from Bank of Nova Scotia and taking over Muslim Commercial Bank Limited’s (MCB) Bangladesh operations. In 2001, it acquired the operations of Scotiabank, which had started its operations in Bangladesh in 1999.
Bank Alfalah (BAFL) is among Pakistan’s largest banks, established in 1997, with a vast network of over 1,024 branches across more than 200 cities in Pakistan. It also has a presence in international markets such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, and the UAE.
In its latest financial report, Bank Alfalah disclosed a consolidated profit after tax of Rs36.09 billion for the year 2023, marking a significant increase of over 96% compared to the previous year. The earnings per share (EPS) stood at Rs23.15, showing a substantial improvement from Rs10.38 in the same period last year.