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JSCL granted approval to conduct due diligence

By Tanveer Ahmed

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has granted approval to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company Limited (JSCL) to conduct due diligence for the acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

After receiving the approval from the central bank on Wednesday, JSCL would now conduct an investigation or audit of the potential investment. The RBS recently offered to sell its business in 36 countries, including Pakistan, after world-wide loss of some $38 billion in 2008 due to the global economic recession.

Three leading financial groups expressed their interest to acquire operations of RBS in Pakistan and, after sending first information to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), they submitted written application to the central bank to obtain permission to commence due diligence of RBS in Pakistan.

On April 15, a day after announcement by HBL and MCB, Jahangir Siddiqui and Co (JSCL) also announced that it was also interested in buying the operations of RBS in Pakistan.

Information sent to KSE on Wednesday JSCL stated: “In respect of their interest in the acquisition of the entire shareholding of ABN AMRO Bank N.V. in Royal Bank of Scotland Limited (formerly ABN AMRO Bank Pakistan Limited (RBS Pakistan), the SBP had in principle granted approval for conducting due diligence of RBS Pakistan.

With the permission for the due diligence the first step of acquisition has been fulfilled and now the interested parties would evaluate market value of RBS. In the final step they would bid for it, depending on the due diligence report.

RBS currently operates 79 branches across the country and has a loan book of Rs 68 billion with deposits of $79 billion and assets of Rs 108 billion. JS Group controls and operates market-leading financial services companies in Pakistan across sectors including asset management, commercial banking, Islamic banking, insurance, investment banking, financial advisory services, stock brokerage, company research, consumer credit rating, factoring and micro finance.

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