Former Mercantile Bank chairman Reza announces sale of 58 lakh shares

Former Mercantile Bank chairman AKM Shaheed Reza announced his intention to sell 58 lakh shares of the bank through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Reza, who was the chairman of Mercantile Bank in 2018, currently holds 4.27% or 4.72 crore shares of the bank. As announced on the DSE, it will sell shares at the prevailing market price on the public or block market by October 31.

On Thursday, Mercantile Bank shares rose 0.98% to reach Tk10.30. At this price, the total value of his shares for sale is Tk 6 crore.

Earlier, in April 2021, Bangladesh Bank removed Shaheed Reza from the board of Mercantile Bank over his involvement in the loan scandal.

The central bank order states that loans given to various defunct entities, including Prashanta Kumar Halder (PK Halder), former managing director of Reliance Finance, were wrongly transferred to the bank accounts of various institutions in which he, Shaheed Reza, participated as a result of corruption and fraudulent irregularities.

Shaheed Reza is also the CEO of Reza Group, which deals in the textiles and ready-made garments industry.

Of the total number of shares of Mercantile Bank, sponsor-directors hold 34.19% of the shares, institutional investors 27.05%, foreign investors 0.84% ​​and general shareholders 37.92%.

The bank paid 10% cash dividend in 2023, where its consolidated net profit was Tk 205.82 crore.

In the first half of this year, consolidated earnings per share were Tk 1.98, an increase of 49% compared to the same period last year.