Three firms — Armada Spinning Mills Limited, Kingsway Endeavors Limited and Uniglobe Business Resources Limited — sold off their entire shareholdings of over 14 crore shares or 9.07 per cent at Islami Bank Bangladesh and left the board of directors of the largest private bank in terms of deposits and loans.

After the sell-off, the shareholding of sponsors or directors as per shareholding report as on June 30, 2023 has decreased from 50.97 per cent to 41.90 per cent from that of the previous month, the company said in a disclosure posted on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

The company has also informed that Ahsanul Alam, nominated by JMC Builders, was appointed as shareholder director and chairman of the bank.

Alam is son of S Alam Group's Chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam.

In 2017, S Alam Group took over IBBL, the country's oldest shariah-based bank.

The stocks of the shariah-based banks were traded significantly in the block market in the last few months.

The block market is a platform of an exchange where a large number of stocks are traded in a single transaction at a negotiated price without affecting the index.

In the last two trading days, the stocks traded at Tk 145 crore in the block market.

Stock market analysts are saying the three corporates are controlled by a leading Chattogram-based group.

Stocks of Islami Bank closed unchanged at Tk 32.60 today on the DSE.