To expand its presence in the diversified market, the Fauji Foundation, a leading group of companies in Pakistan, expressed interest in buying Silkbank, as the bank opened the doors for the conglomerate to determine its price.
Silkbank Company Secretary Faizul Hasan Hashmi said in a notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, “We would like to inform … Fauji Foundation has expressed interest in acquiring a majority stake in Silkbank Limited,”
As part of the procedure, Silkbank was asked to allow the Fauji Foundation to exercise due diligence by the bank and “Fauji Foundation intends to apply to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for requisite approval of the same.”
Subject to the approval of SBP, the bank’s board of directors gave its in-principle approval to the Fauji Foundation on Thursday (January 28) to carry out the due diligence necessary and to evaluate the information that Silkbank would provide in that regard, he said.
Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Firm, said the bank was short of the minimum capital requirement (MCR) set by the regulator, i.e. the SBP. “The flow of new investment will help the bank to meet the regulatory requirement.”
Despite a relatively smaller bank, “it has a good consumer banking portfolio and has also notably progressed in digital banking in recent times,” he said.
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“The bank is committed to adhering to the targets and is confident of reaching capital compliance by December 31, 2020,”The bank is committed to adhering to the targets and is confident of achieving capital compliance by 31 December 2020.
The board has set some management goals that would ensure progress in all the bank’s main ratios in 2020, it said.
As of 30 June 2020, the bank’s equity stood at Rs12,44 billion, excluding the asset revaluation surplus. This includes Rs11.62 billion of equity capital (net of losses and discount on shares).
“Because of the same, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank is 8.36 percent,” the bank said.
Alpha Beta Core CEO Khurram Shehzad said the Fauji Foundation had stakes in the fertiliser, cement, oil and gas, food grain and banking sectors in over 18 subsidiaries.
Silkbank has Rs154 billion worth of deposits. It has borrowed Rs99 billion in government securities and invested Rs131 billion.
For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2020, the bank posted a profit after tax of Rs151 million. It has a cumulative loss of Rs13.5 billion, however.
