Acquisition of a strategic stake in the Dhaka Stock Exchange

Demutualisation converted the Dhaka Stock Exchange from a mutual body owned by its members into a company whose shares could be held by outside investors, with a block reserved for a strategic partner. The strategic stake was contested, and the process was conducted under close regulatory and political scrutiny.

For the acquirer, the question was not only price. It was whether a foreign state-linked exchange could acquire and hold the stake at all under the demutualisation legislation and the securities regime, what governance rights came with it, and what the exit position would be.

Advised the consortium through the bid and acquisition: the demutualisation framework, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission approvals, the shareholding and governance arrangements attaching to the strategic stake, and the foreign exchange treatment of the investment and of any future return.

Ran diligence on the exchange and the regulatory conditions attached to the stake.

The consortium acquired the strategic stake. The transaction remains the largest foreign investment into Bangladesh's capital markets infrastructure.