New Kabul Bank Privatization Process
Date: December 16, 2013
Ministry of Finance held New Kabul Bank (NKB) Bid Submission Press Conference on December 16, 2013. The event was held as part of the privatization process of the NKB. Two foreign companies namely Crow Capital and CBGI submitted their bids to the bidding committee. Mr. Noorullah Delawari, DAB Governor highlighted that NKB privatization process was announced in September 2013 at national and international level through different media outlets, where four companies showed their interested. But today [Monday] December 16, 2013, two foreign companies namely Crow Capital and CBGI officially took part in the bidding process and submitted their offers to the bidding committee. He said a technical committee comprised of authorized members from the NKB, DAB and Ministry of Finance will evaluate the offers and the outcome of the bidding process will be announced in a couple of weeks. He further added that the evaluation committee will check the financial and technical capabilities of the bidders.
Muhammad Aqa Kohistani, Director General Treasury at Ministry of Finance said that the NKB privatization process was properly overseen by the commissioned committee. While providing more details on the process, he said that early four companies registered their names to take part in the process but later two companies withdrew before submitting their bids. He said that after announcement of the winning bidder and approval from the Council of Ministers, the NKB will be formally handed over to the new owner in May 2014.
On December 28, 2013, Ministry of Finance officially announced Crow Capital as a winner with the bidding amount of USD 28.5 million by receiving 80 percent marks in technical evaluation. On the other hand, CBGI with the bidding amount of USD 21 million received 76 marks in technical evaluation. Ministry of Finance officials confirmed that the final decision on handing over NKB to Crow Capital will be taken by Ministers' Council.
