KARACHI: Dubai-based tycoon Nasser Abdullah Hussain Lootah has expressed his intention to acquire a majority stake in Summit Bank Limited, according to a notice received by the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.
“The intention has been notified to the board of directors of the Summit Bank Limited on March 27, 2020,” read the letter sent by Summit Bank to the PSX.
Lootah, who is currently serving as the bank’s chairman, holds 0.51 percent of its shares and wants to increase his holding to at least 51 percent to gain a controlling stake by “subscribing to fresh equity,” as he said in a letter sent to Summit Bank president Ahsan Raza Durrani on Friday.
The acquisition, according to him, would inject fresh money into the bank and help it meet the minimum capital requirements.
“It is also envisaged that this equity injection will enable the bank to comply with the Minimum Capital Requirements and Capital Adequacy Ration requirements as required by the State Bank of Pakistan,” Lootah wrote.
Summit Bank is a subsidiary of Suroor Investment Limited, a Mauritius-based investment company, which owns 66.77 percent of its shares. Other shareholders include Rupali Bank Limited (1.24 percent) and Lootah (0.51 percent), according to the bank’s annual report from Dec. 31, 2017. As of 2017, it had 193 branches across Pakistan.
The bank has not published its audited financials since then, according to Lootah’s letter.
Suroor Investment acquired a 59.41 percent stake in Arif Habib Bank in 2010 and rebranded it as Summit Bank Limited.
Lootah, who is seeking to acquire the bank in personal capacity, has diversified business interests the sectors of travel, shipping, real estate, mineral water, logistics, information technology, and media.
He also has controlling shares in two Pakistani companies — 95 percent in Global Haly Developments Limited and 80 percent in Lootah Energy Private Limited.
The Lootah family is also the biggest shareholder in Dubai Islamic Bank.
