East Invest Private Equity to invest $1-bn in Bangladesh

Bangaladesh: East Invest Private Equity Limited, a British company, wants to invest one billion dollars in Bangladesh’s financial, IT, energy and transport sectors in three years.


‘We will participate in the pre-qualification bid of Oriental Bank on September 23 to buy the bank,’ said the company’s director, Bangladesh Operation, MM Roni at a press briefing at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on Thursday.


If the efforts of buying Oriental Bank are successful, this will be the East Invest’s first venture of investing in Bangladesh, Roni said and added then the other plans will be executed in phases.


The British company, after buying the Oriental Bank, will establish a separate subsidiary from it for running a full-fledged micro-credit institution. At the outset it will introduce `micro-credit card’ for five lakh poor people, said Roni.


The East Invest executive said it is a credit card for small amount of money, but other innovative ideas would be injected into the project when it goes into operation.


In addition to those, he said, ‘Distribution of two million personal computers in the rural areas free of cost with the cooperation of Bill Gates also is in our cards.’


The cost of IT connections will also be done with free of cost, he said.


The cost of those noble causes will be spent from the corporate profit of the East Invest. The London-based company is eager to invest about 40 percent of its profit on noble causes, he said.


In reply to a question, Roni said they have informed the Board of Investment about their intention and all the bindings will be followed accordingly when the process of acquiring Oriental Bank is finalised, he added.


About his company, Roni said, ‘It is one of the leading equity companies in Britain which was founded 15 years ago’ and Steeve Gabison is its chairman and Chief Executive Officer.