CB Capital Management Ltd (ICML) agreed to be the issue manager of
Orion Group Laboratories, a subsidiary of Orion Group, for issuing an IPO
under book-building method.
Mohammad Obaidul Karim, managing director of
Orion Group Laboratories, and Mohammad Abdur Rauf, chief executive
officer of ICML, signed the agreement in Dhaka on Monday.
Orion Group Laboratories has recently signed an issue management
agreement with state-owned ICB Capital Management Ltd (ICML) for issuing
initial public offering (IPO) through book-building method, said a
statement.
ICML will work as an issue manager of Orion Group Laboratories, a subsidiary of Orion Group.
Obaidul Karim, managing director of Orion Laboratories, and Abdur Rauf,
chief executive officer of ICML, signed the deal on behalf of their
respective organisations on Monday.
Orion Laboratories will collect the money from the general investors to set up a pharmaceutical plant and a power plant.
This new factory will be the biggest in the pharmaceutical industry in
Bangladesh in terms of investment, covered area, and the number of
varieties of dosage forms to be produced, said the statement.
The 200 MW power plant under the
purview of Orion Laboratories will be added to the national grid by
March next year, the statement added.The Power Development Board
yesterday signed three sets of agreements with local Orion Power to set
up three private coal-fired power plants in Khulna, Chittagong and Mawa totaling 1,200 megawatt capacity.
Salman Karim, director of Orion Power, told The Daily Star yesterday the
company had signed Implementation Agreement and Power Purchase
Agreement for the Khulna 300 MW, Chittagong 300 MW and Mawa 600 MW power
projects.
“The Khulna and Chittagong projects will be commissioned within 36
months while the Mawa project within 45 months from signing of these
agreements,” he added. Salman also noted that Orion Power has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Electricity Generation
Authority of Thailand International (Egati) as its investment partner.
Egati is the largest Thai power producer having the experience of
generating 16,000 MW power. As per the agreements, Orion Power has to
build the plants on their own land and arrange its own coal supply.
The company has purchased 500-bigha land in Khulna and Mawa each and a
700-bigha plot of land in Chittagong for its projects. It, however,
proposed the government approve a merger between the two 300-MW
projects–either in Chittagong or in Khulna–to make them viable.
The company has signed MoUs with two trading companies– Swiss Glencore
and Japanese Mitsui– to ensure smooth supply of coal from Indonesia and
Australia to their projects. Once commissioned, Orion Power will sell
electricity to the PDB at Taka 3.78 per kilowatt-hour in Khulna and
Chittagong and Taka 4.30 per kilowatt-hour in Mawa.
The government has entered a deal with Orion Group to install three
private coal-based power plants to add 1088MW power to the national
grid.
Although there is a government-run coal-based power plant producing
250MW power at Barapukuria, this is the first move to get private firms
to produce power from coal.
On Jan 29, the government struck a deal with India for installing a
coal-based power plant with a capacity to produce 1030MW at Rampal in
Bagherhat near the Sundarbans.
One of the new power plants will be set up at Mawa in Munsiganj to
produce 522MW. Two other plants will be established at Anwara in
Chittagong and in Khulna each with a capacity of generating 282.67MW.
Orion Group Managing Director Salman Obaidul Karim and Power Development
Board (PDB) Secretary Md Azizul Islam signed the agreement at the
Bidyut Bhaban. The power plant at Mawa will go into operation in 45
months while the plants at Khulna and Chittagong will be built in 36
months.
The government will pay Taka 4.79 for per unit power produced by the Mawa
plant and Taka 4.45 for power supplied from the other two plants.
Currently daily power production is 5,500MW against the demand of
7,000MW.
The Prime Minister’s Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister
for Power Mohammad Enamul Hoque, Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, PDB
Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir and Orion Group Chairman Obaidul Karim were
present at the ceremony.“Many had feared whether it would be possible at
all to establish power plant by importing coal. After overcoming all
the challenges we are going to prove that through this agreement. I hope
the plants will come into operation at the expected time,” said advisor
Chowdhury. Chairman Karim said they will import coal from Australia and
Indonesia and that reputed organisations have been employed to look
into issues including building the plants and importing coal. He was
also hopeful about making the plants operational three months before
schedule.
Power is being produced using five types of energy. About 80 percent of
the daily power is being produced using gas, while furnace oil and
diesel are used for producing 17 percent. Water and coal produces 3
percent.
After assuming power the government undertook a plan of raising daily
power production by 15,000MW within 2016.The government has so far
struck deals for 56 power plants.
