Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday said the Grameen Bank Commission was trying to find a way to bring back the government’s share in Grameenphone, the majority shares of which are owned by Norwegian company Telenor.
The commission will also shortly estimate the government’s share in the country’s largest mobile phone operator and submit to the finance ministry its recommendations on how to achieve that target.
“A total of 10% shares of Grameenphone is now in the Bangladesh stock market. The commission will calculate the government shares in the rest 90% of the Grameenphone stake,” the finance minister told reporters after a meeting.
In replying to a question, he said the government’s shares would stand at 51%.
Earlier, the commission had announced a workshop on the future structure of Grameen Bank for July 2, where it would discuss how to increase the government’s shares of the bank to 51%.
According to the contract with the consortium which initially owned Grameenphone, the first right to buy shares lied with Grameen Telecom, but at a board meeting some shares of Gonophone, Grameen Telecom and a Japanese company were sold to Telenor.
“Telenor informed me that Muhammad Yunus was present at the meeting as the chairman of Grameen Telecom,” Muhith said.
“Telenor said it had not done anything illegally and followed the rules and regulations of the soil.”
Grameen Telecom holds 34.2% shares of Grameenphone while Telenor owns 55.8%.
