Beximco buys Singer stake

A Beximco-led consortium has concluded negotiations to buy a majority stake in the local home appliances giant Singer Bangladesh, with the deal awaiting regulatory clearance. FULL STORY

bdnews24.com
Published : 6 Nov 2010, 07:05 AM
Updated : 6 Nov 2010, 07:05 AM
Dhaka Nov 6 (bdnews24.com) — A Beximco-led consortium has concluded negotiations to buy a majority stake in the local home appliances giant Singer Bangladesh, with the deal awaiting regulatory clearance.
Salman F Rahman, the Beximco Group's vice chairman, confirmed purchase of 55 percent stake, held by the parent company. He would not give any further details or say how much he and his partners would pay Singer Asia.
"This is subject to regulatory approval from the Bangladesh Bank and the SEC," he told bdnews24.com.
But Rahman made it clear that there would be no changes in the current management structure, saying "we are very happy with the existing set-up".
"It is run by competent professionals, and we have full confidence in the management.
"We really appreciate the good work being done by the Singer Bangladesh team," Salman Rahman said.
Singer began in what is now Bangladesh in 1905 and has long been associated with its famous sewing machines. It remained the company's core business, but diversification into consumer durables has brought into the local market a wide range of products.
Singer-branded products have ranged from colour TV to computers, washing machines to microwave ovens, from rice cookers and kitchen appliances to room heaters and air conditioners, from motorcycles to vacuum cleaners.
In 2006, the company introduced household and industrial cables.
In recent years, cashing in on its impressive sales and marketing infrastructure, it started retailing other branded products such as Prestige pressure cooker and Eurotron electronic cash register.
Singer outlets also sell products from Samsung, Haier, Hayes, Tefal among other major international brands.
Singer Bangladesh was listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1983 and currently a quarter of the company's equity is in the stock market. With a paid-up capital of Tk 224 million the company reported profits of Tk 396.79 million for 2009. Singer — with a face value of Tk 100 — closed at Tk 7,660 on Thursday, down by 1.6 percent from the previous session.
Beximco, billed as Bangladesh's biggest business conglomerate, has ventures ranging from textiles to pharmaceutical to media, and recently acquired the country's biggest private airline and reclaimed the single largest stake in the oldest private bank, IFIC.
It has also invested in the company that owns Dhaka's Westin hotel with plans to build a few more five-star hotels.
In August, Beximco teamed up with a company tied to the Saudi royal family to bid for the billion-dollar BMRE project of the lone oil refinery of Bangladesh. When implemented, the project would treble the capacity of Eastern Refinery.
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