Trading of BOK, ILFC, NEFL & SIFC scrips halted for merger

ShareSansar, June 15:

Trading of shares of Bank of Kathmandu, International Leasing and Finance Company (ILFC), Shree Investment and Finance Limited and Nepal Express Finance Limited have been halted from today.

The four BFIs had signed the MoU on June 12 to start the merger process.
The merged entity will be named BoK.

However, a highly placed source at BoK told that the MoU was basically meant to start the DDA for the merger, and went on to add that the merger process may break down if they cannot reach an agreement on the swap ratio.

The trading is likely to resume only after 5 to 6 months if the merger process succeeds.

BoK has a paid-up capital of Rs 1.92 arba where as the paid-up of ILFC, Shree Investment and Nepal Express stand at Rs 2.88 arba, Rs 17.60 crore and Rs 19.70 crore respectively.

Likewise, BoK  has 50 branches, nine extension counter, 57 ATM and 24 branchless banking service. ILFC has nine branches, Shree Investment has two and Nepal Express has four branches. Nepal Express also has one extension counter.

Back in January, all the BFIs had formally sought the central bank’s approval for the merger as they have more or less completed all the internal procedures for the merge.

The BFIs are, however, yet to work out the representation of the finance companies on the board and the management of the BoK, sources privy of the development said.

It may also be noted that some of the promoters of the BoK and ILFC are common.