Another Saudi giant keen to buy Rupali

Dhaka, Dec 5 (bdprem.com) -- Dallah Albaraka Group, one of the leading conglomerates in Saudi Arabia, has expressed its interest to buy state-run Rupali Bank, officials said Wednesday. Your Ad Here A team of the Jeddah-based conglomerate that controls 300 companies operating in more than 40 countries will arrive in Dhaka Friday to hold talks with the government, officials with the Board of Investment said. The move came after Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud's bid to buy Rupali ran into snags. "The company is interested to purchase the RBL if it is not taken over by Prince Bandar," Fazlul Haque, local representative of Dallah Albaraka, told bdprem by phone. Haque said the group was also interested to buy troubled Oriental Bank and state-run Agrani Bank. The Privatisation Commission is set to take a decision on Prince Bandar's proposal to buy 93.26 percent stakes in Rupali for $448 million. But a string of unresolved issues between the two parties delayed the handover of Rupali by more than one year. "There are still a number of serious outstanding issues to be addressed by the government," Sir Frank Peters, senior adviser to the prince, had told bdprem earlier. "We hope this will be resolved in the immediate future," he said. Peters however said there would be a "major statement" from Prince Bandar in early December. "We'll decide on the RBL sale soon," finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the bdnews24.com correspondent at the cabinet division Wednesday. Answering a question on Dallah Albaraka's interest to buy Rupali, he said: "Showing interest isn't good enough. The government has to follow a system." "We've to float tenders again for Rupali's sale then," Azizul said. Dallah Albaraka is also interested to invest in city cleaning projects, airport management, upgrading of Bangladesh Biman, hospital management and state-run Eastern Cables, the company said in a letter to the BoI and Privatisation Commission.