Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has granted final approval to Pakistan’s Habib Bank Limited (HBL) to sell its shares in Himalayan Bank Limited to National Life Insurance Company (NLIC).
According to an NRB official, the central bank handed over the approval letter to the concerned parties on Sunday. The decision was made during a meeting chaired by the NRB governor.
With this approval, NLIC will purchase 28,014,447 units of HBL shares previously owned by Habib Bank. This marks the entry of a new shareholder in HBL, four months after the share transfer process began. Habib Bank and NLIC had signed a share purchase agreement in August.
NLIC will acquire Habib Bank’s shares at a rate of Rs 101.88 per unit. Earlier, the Pakistani bank had proposed a selling price of Rs 112 per share. Currently, NLIC holds 1.25 percent of HBL’s total shares.
Habib Bank had decided to exit HBL seven years ago. In the initial phase, it had signed an agreement with Himalayan Reinsurance to divest its shares in the bank.
