The Bangladesh Bank (BB) plans to complete the sale process of nearly 60 per cent shares of troubled Oriental Bank Limited by the end of February next, official sources said.

Bidding document has already been sent to six potential buyers, who are required to submit bids to the department concerned of the central bank by January 20.

“We have planned to sell the shares to a qualified bidder by February 28 next,” a BB senior official told the FE Monday.

He also said the central bank will hand over the management of the bank to the new authority after signing a sale and purchase agreement with the qualified buyer.

Sources, however, said the central bank will form a high-powered committee comprising experts from different organisations to evaluate the tender documents.

The committee will recommend one investor after examination of the bidding documents on purchase of Tk 4.0 billion worth of shares of the Shariah-based private commercial bank.

The six investors — three foreign and three local — earlier completed their ‘due diligence’ exercise to know the overall position of the bank.

The local parties are BRAC Bank Limited, Summit Industrial & Mercantile Corporation (Pvt.) Limited and Domestic Investors Consortium, a forum comprising local commercial banks and non-banking financial institutions.

The foreign interested companies are the United Kingdom-based East Invest Private Equity Limited, ICB Financial Group Holdings of Switzerland and Hatton National Bank of Sri Lanka .

The Oriental Bank that suffered a severe financial crisis was taken over by the central bank on June 19, 2006 to protect the depositors’ interest.

The central bank has already appointed an administrator to run the bank temporarily.

On August 6, 2006 the central bank ordered the removal of the managing director of the bank and suspended the board of directors for a period of one year.

The central bank is now working to complete the implementation of a restructuring scheme before installing a new management of the bank by the end of February next.

Under the scheme, approved by the government earlier, the paid-up capital of the bank will reach Tk 7.0 billion while the general shareholders, including its depositors, will hold Tk 3.0 billion in terms of shares. Each share will have a face value of Tk 1000.

On June 27 last, the government extended the moratorium period for certain banking activities for six more months to protect depositors’ interest and facilitate its restructuring.

On January 25 last, the finance ministry imposed a six-month moratorium restricting withdrawal of cash above Tk 10,000 by the depositors. In the case of new accounts, there was no restriction on withdrawal of money during the period.

The Oriental Bank Limited started its operation on May 20, 1987 under the name of Al Baraka Bank Bangladesh Limited.

The bank is now running its business through 30 branches across the country, where a total of 713 employees are engaged at different levels.