Himalayan Bank Share Dilution and National Life Pre-Injection Explained
By Stock Sessions
Imagine waking up to a corporate twist in Nepal’s banking scene: a foreign bank sells its holding of Himalayan Bank to one of the biggest insurance companies of Nepal and suddenly huge amounts of locked promoter shares are converted into public shares. That’s exactly what happened at Himalayan Bank. Founding member Habib Bank of Pakistan has just exited HBL’s 12.93% stake and domestic insurer National Life Insurance Company bought the shares.
To top it off, HBL’s board quietly approved converting 10% of its promoter shares into free-floating public shares on its total paid up capital. What does all this mean for Himalayan Bank and National Life? Let’s break down everything in this article.
The Great Exit: From International Partnership to Domestic Consolidation
Habib Bank (Pakistan) formally divested its entire 12.93% promoter shares in Himalayan Bank, selling 28,012,447 shares at Rs.118.88 each. The sale was approved by Nepal Rastriya Bank and executed via the stock exchange. National Life Insurance (NLICL), which held only ~1.25% (0.88% promoter + 0.37% public) of HBL before, bought entire shares held by Habib Bank. In fact, NLICL’s share count jumped by those 2,99,29,442.76 shares, vaulting its total HBL stake to 14.19% of the bank.
