KATHMANDU, October 12: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given final approval to Pakistan's Habib Bank to offload its shares in Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL).
According to an official of the NRB, the central bank gave the go ahead to the Pakistani bank to sell its shares in the HBL to National Life Insurance Company (NLIC). “The NRB has handed over the final approval letter to the concerned stakeholders on Sunday,” said the source, adding that an NRB governor-level meeting took the decision to this effect.
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With the NRB’s permission, the NLIC will be purchasing 28,014,447 units of shares of HBL owned by Habib Bank. The HBL is finally getting a new shareholder in four months of starting the process to sell the shares. Habib Bank and NLIC in this regard signed an agreement for the shares transaction in August.
The NLIC is all set to purchase Habib Bank’s shares at the rate of Rs 101.88 per unit. Earlier, the Pakistani bank had sought to sell its shares at Rs 112 per unit. As of now, the NLIC holds 1.25 percent shares in the HBL.
Habib Bank decided to exit from the HBL seven years ago. In the first phase, it signed an agreement with Himalayan Reinsurance to offload its shares in the HBL.
