National Life Acquires Habib Bank’s Founder Shares in Himalayan Bank

Kathmandu – National Life Insurance Company Limited has officially acquired all founder shares of Himalayan Bank Limited previously held by Pakistan’s Habib Bank Limited, becoming the largest shareholder of the bank.

According to National Life CEO Suresh Prasad Khatri, the company completed the purchase of 14,006,217 shares through matching transactions on the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) on Thursday and Sunday. The transactions were executed via NEPSE’s online trading system following the final approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

National Life purchased the shares at a rate of Rs 118.88 per share, totaling Rs 1.66 billion. Earlier on Thursday, the company had purchased another 14,006,230 shares, completing the full acquisition of 28,012,447 shares that Habib Bank had put up for sale.

With this purchase, National Life has now emerged as the largest shareholder of Himalayan Bank.

Initially, Nepal Reinsurance Company (Nepal Re) had also shown interest in acquiring the shares. However, National Life proceeded after receiving formal approval from the central bank to purchase Habib Bank’s founder shares. The NRB had earlier fixed the minimum price of the shares at Rs 112.80 per unit, but National Life proposed a higher purchase rate.

Following the regulatory green light from both the Nepal Rastra Bank and the Insurance Board, the share transfer process between Habib Bank and National Life was successfully. completed.