Another sponsor director pulls out of Islami Bank

Bangladesh Islamic Centre, a corporate sponsor of Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC, is going to sell its entire stake in the Shariah-based lender, joining a group of investors who have pulled out of the troubled bank.  

The UK-based charitable organisation's holding of 34 lakh shares will be sold at the prevailing market price in the public and block markets of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) within the next 30 working days, said the bank in a filing on the bourse yesterday. The shareholding gives it a 0.21 percent stake in the bank.

Shares of Islami Bank closed unchanged at Tk 32.60 on the DSE yesterday.

Sponsors have started to leave the bank after S Alam Group took over in 2017. Since then, the financial health of the largest Shariah-based lender in Bangladesh has been deteriorating. 

In June last year, state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh sold its shareholdings. Mustafa Anwar, one of the sponsors, sold 2,26,000 shares out of his holdings of 2,26,332 shares in late 2022.

Ibn Sina Trust, another sponsor shareholder, sold off its 2.24 percent stake in April 2018. The Islamic Development Bank withdrew its directorship last year.

In 2014, Bahrain Islamic Bank sold off all of its shares and Dubai Islamic Bank followed suit in 2015.

As of May, local sponsors and directors held 30.93 percent ownership of the bank, foreign sponsors and directors owned 4.95 percent, institutes 42.99 percent, foreign investors 12.96 percent, and general investors 8.16 percent, according to Islami Bank's website.