KARACHI: Meezan Bank Limited has entered in an agreement with the HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HBME), an indirect wholly-owned subsidy of HSBC Holdings Plc, to acquire HSBC’s banking business in Pakistan through a process of amalgamation, an official said on Friday. “The amalgamation is expected to be completed, subject to regulatory and other relevant approvals, including the approval of direct shareholders of Meezan Bank Limited and HMBE, during the second half of 2014,” Tasnimul Haq Farooqui, company secretary of Meezan Bank, said. HSBC Pakistan business comprises 10 branches and total assets of Rs48 billion as of December 31, 2013. Meezan Bank currently operates 351 branches in 103 cities and is the largest Islamic bank in the country. Meezan Bank will convert the operations of HSBC Pakistan into Islamic banking and ensure that customers continue to enjoy uninterrupted banking services, the official said. Meezan Bank has experience of acquiring a foreign bank and converting the operations into Islamic banking in 2002, when it acquired the banking operations of Societe Generale in Pakistan through a transaction very similar to the one being contemplated, Farooqui said. HSBC Pakistan was put on the block early 2012 and attracted interest from major banks, including MCB Bank, United Bank, KASB Finance, Silkbank, Habib Bank Limited and Allied Bank, which sought the State Bank of Pakistan’s permission for conducting due diligence. JS Bank made some progress and a sale purchase agreement between JS Bank and HBME was signed in September 2012. The deal was announced without actually having agreed upon a final price, the official said. However, in October 2013, the agreement for the sale of HBME’s banking business in Pakistan to JS Bank Limited was terminated, as the regulatory approval had not been received by the latter.
