Turkey-based Arcelik, a home appliance manufacturing group, is set to acquire 57 per cent stake of Singer Bangladesh from Netherlands-based Retail Holdings group for $75 million.
Arcelik and Retail Holdings NV on Friday announced that they had signed an agreement under which Ardutch BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelik, would acquire Retail Holdings BV, which controlled 57 per cent of Singer Bangladesh shares, said an official disclosure on Sunday.
The transaction is anticipated to close in April, officials said.
The remaining 43 per cent of the shares of Singer Bangladesh, a major retailer of home appliance, is publicly owned.
Founded in 1955 as a subsidiary of Koç Holding, Arçelik, which is Turkey’s largest industrial conglomerate and a member of the Fortune 500, is a leading player in the home appliance industry with 21 manufacturing facilities in eight countries.
It is the third largest home appliance company in Europe.
Singer Bangladesh is the largest retailer of consumer durables, with 385 stores and 720 wholesale dealers, in Bangladesh.
Its turnover in 2018 was Tk 13.70 billion (approximately $164 million) and net profit after tax was Tk 920 million (approximately $11 million).
Singer closed 1.93 per cent higher at Tk 268.90 on Thursday, the last trading day of the last week on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Singer Bangladesh is expected to significantly benefit from the new relationship with Arçelik, officials said.
Singer Bangladesh, which was listed on the Dhaka bourse in 1983, has recommended 30 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2018. In 2017, the company disbursed 100 per cent cash dividend.
The Singer BD’s paid-up capital is Tk 766.94 million and authorised capital is Tk 1.0 billion, while the total number of securities is 76.69 million.
The sponsor-directors own 57 per cent stake in the company, while the institutional investors do 15.45 per cent, foreign investors 7.30 per cent and the general public 20.25 per cent as on February 28, 2019, the DSE data shows.
