One of the leading conglomerates of the country, Akij Group, acquired two Malaysian companies in a transaction involving USD 77 million (about BDT 6.44 billion) that included USD20 million taken from Bangladesh. This was the first cross-border acquisition by any Bangladeshi company.
Akij Group provided USD 20 million from its ERQ (exporters’ retention quota) account after taking special permission from Bangladesh Bank (BB) for the investment and received USD 24.50 million as financial assistance from the German development finance institution DEG, a concern of Germany’s kfw, a German government-owned development bank, USD 13.50 million from Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad (StanChart), and USD10 million from a UK-based company to acquire two operating companies – Robin Resources Malaysia SDN BHD and the subsidiary Robina Flooring SDN BHD – in Mentakab, Malaysia under its investment company Akij Resources SDN BHD. The remaining cost of the acquisition came from the two companies’ dividend income.
Green Delta Capital Limited (GDCL) was the mandated lead arranger and adviser to the transaction. It provided assistance to materialize the deal and raised USD 38 million from DEG and StanChart. GDCL also acted as independent valuer of the companies. The loans were term loans of 7-9 years.