Top fund manager buys Tk 500 million stake in bdnews24.com

In another first, bdnews24.com has secured the single biggest institutional investment for a digital media company in Bangladesh with a major fund manager putting faith in the nation’s top news publisher.

LR Global Bangladesh, an affiliate of a New York-based investment firm, said it invested Tk 500 million in bdnews24.com to support the expansion of news automation and creativity.

The fund comes at a time when bdnews24.com speeds up efforts to stay ahead in constant evolution in how people see and use digital media in the changing environment.

“It’s a very encouraging endorsement of our brand of journalism that we have pursued for the past 13 years,” said bdnews24.com’s Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi. “It’s a huge expression of confidence in our very committed and talented workforce who include some of the finest newsroom/media professionals in Bangladesh as well as our brand and the company.”

The company that prides itself on introducing news in real time in Bangladesh and a host of new media products since a 2006 takeover is now set for the next level of information delivery, Khalidi said.

“As we embark on a growth journey in all possible directions and commit ourselves to continuing with our innovations, we are proud to say this is another first in this country’s media history,” he said.

 “The single largest investment by the second largest asset management firm speaks volumes about our mutual intent and purposes.”

The investment will also go into bdnews24.com’s constant efforts to remain the most trustworthy news source in an environment in which people share and reshare untrustworthy information, sometimes with malicious intent, on social media.

“We are now accountable not only to our millions of readers but also a staggering 30,000 investors through LR Global,” he said.

LR Global Bangladesh's Chief Executive Officer Reaz Islam (pictured) closed the Tk 500 million investment deal with bdnews24.com in Dhaka.

LR Global led by Chief Executive Officer Reaz Islam closed the investment deal with bdnews24.com in Dhaka last week.

“The primary driver for the investment was Toufique Imrose Khalidi and the brand he created with sheer determination to preserve the value, integrity and quality of his content to retain, nurture and grow his loyal customers/readers with very limited capital,” Islam said.

“Then, of course, we see the future potential of the brand, including building upon its strong existing core -- both horizontally and vertically -- servicing millions of readers in Bangladesh and beyond.”

Islam has more than 30 years of financial services and investment experiences, including almost 20 years at Citigroup and 10 years at LR Global. For the last 12 years at Citigroup, Islam was the CEO, senior managing director and chief investment officer at Citigroup Alternative Investment (including Citi Fixed Income Alternative, a division he established). He is a Cornell and New York University alumnus who managed tens of billions of dollars for the customers of the world’s largest financial services company.

“In 30 years of my investment experience globally across multiple sectors, I have rarely seen a company like bdnews24.com that has such great future potential in the ‘Second Machine Age’ that we are in already,” Islam said, referring to the automation of cognitive tasks, including fast-paced creation and delivery of high quality news, content, services, products and much more. “The digital platform of bdnews24.com has endless possibilities.”