Profile of country's top business entity: Beximco Group

Beximco Group is a multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The company is considered the top business entity on Bangladesh. It operates with the slogan - Taking Bangladesh to the world.

In the last three decades, Beximco Group grew strength to strength. In 2005, Beximco Pharma became the first Bangladeshi company to list on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. It became the first Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to commence export of pharmaceutical products to the USA in 2016.

The multinational conglomerate has business wings in textiles, marine food & commodities trading, pharmaceuticals, real estate, cotton and polyester, hospitality, ICT and ceramics. The pharmaceuticals wing of the company, Beximco Pharma, is now one of the largest exporters of medicines and won National Export Trophy (Gold) a record five times.

Salman F Rahman the vice chairman of Beximco Group

This dynamic company was founded in the 1970’s by two brothers – Ahmed Sohail Fasiur Rahman and Salman Fazlur Rahman. It started as a commodities trading company. Now it has become a diversified group with presence in almost all industry sectors. Salman F Rahman is serving as a Private Sector Development Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister and Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina.

Financially the company is very stable. In 2010, the company acquired stakes in several major Bangladeshi businesses, including IFIC Bank, GMG Airlines, and Unique Hotels and Resorts.

High officials of Beximco Group

Recently Beximco Power initiated a joint venture to develop a 200 MW solar power plant in Gaibandha. Teesta Solar Limited. and China’s TBEA Xinjiang Sunoasis Co signed a power purchase agreement with Power Development Board for this matter. Under the agreement, the PDB will purchase electricity from TSL’s plant for 20 years at the tariff of 15 US cents per kilowatt hour. Beximco Power hold 80 % share of the venture. Renewable energy like solar power is considered holding the key to the future.

Information source:
Beximco Group's website - https://www.beximco.com/

Assignment point's report on Beximco Group - http://www.assignmentpoint.com/science/textile/safety-environment-complance-in-beximco-texitile-limited.html

How private companies like Beximco Group, Pran Group, Bashundhara Group are helping the economy grow?

Bangladesh is regarded as a rapidly developing country. Bangladesh managed a vast progress on the economic side. The GDP growth is increasing every year and in 2013-14 fiscal years, it was close to 6%, which is more than its neighboring countries, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

As a country which has the potential to become one of the most influential countries in terms of economy, a lot of private companies are giving inputs to the overall values. Top private companies like Beximco Group, Pran Group, Bashundhara Group are pretty much the backbone of the economic growth of Bangladesh. These groups were mostly founded in the 1980s. Bangladesh soon saw the speedy rise of these groups which launched a lot of products such as dry foods, cement, LP gas, ceramics, and pharmaceutical products.

These groups have mostly ensured the consistency in the economy by maintaining a strong export quality, as they serve more than 100 countries all over the world with their products. These are top notch products, which are especially managed by the experts. For instance, Beximco Pharma is listed on the London stock exchange, which is a big achievement for the company and the country as well. It was formed in 1972. This helps the economy to grow under foreign currency and ensures its maximum efficiency. The products offer world class quality, which is very important. It is now one of the big guns in the pharmaceutical sector throughout the world. Other than pharmaceutical sector, Beximco Group is involved in ceramics manufacturing, trading of consumer and capital goods, financial services, aviation and media.

Beximco Group focusing on industrial sector

Beximco Group is clearly focusing on the industrial sector. The company is country's largest company. The company is active in the industrial sector from the early 1970s and concentrates on jute, textiles, basic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and ceramics. Recently the company is exploring other sectors for investing.

Last year, Beximco Group signed a treaty with China Energy Engineering Corporation for concentrating energy projects in the country. CEO of Beximco Power Company Ltd, Ajmal Kabir, signed the agreement at Beximco Group’s head office. On the occasion, vice chairman of Beximco Group, Salman F Rahman was present and said it is a significant day for the company. Beximco Group will work on three major projects. One is an 8MW capacity solar power plant, one is a 660MW coal fired power plant, and one is a 200MW solar power plant in Gaibandha.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals extended its operations by a great margin last year. It had announced it would start to export hypertensive drug, Carvedilol to the USA. The company is Bangladesh's first pharmaceuticals player to achieve that. Bangladesh can make generic drugs without any intellectual property rights until 2O33 as a Least Developed Country.

Beximco Group is also on the process of setting up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas based power plant with US-based technical partner General Electric (GE). The company already requested the Power Development Board to give it permission.

The group also signed agreements in october 2016 with Chinese companies to produce a total of 3,500 megawatts of electricity in five years. The deals were part of the 13 agreements, worth $13.6 billion, that were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day visit to Dhaka. Beximco Group would produce 2,180MW, of which 1,980MW would come from coal-fired plants and 200MW from a solar power plant, according to its Executive Director M Rafiqul Islam. Beximco and its Chinese partners will invest a total of $3.2 billion to produce the power.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals to start exporting in the US

​Beximco Group will develop several energy projects

Beximco eyeing to install LPG-based power plant

No more direct listing for private companies

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission mull a regulatory measure which would not let private companies join the bourses under the direct listing system in a bid to protect the investors and the capital market’s interests. In direct listing system, a company could be listed on a stock exchange without increasing existing paid-up capital.

The authorities issued the directive after a company Aman Cement Mills sought permission to be listed in the premier bourse directly which was earlier misused before the price crash of 2011. A probe committee found that stock market was affected by listing of companies with inflated prices.

Direct listing system was introduced in 2006 and five state-owned companies and five private companies joined the bourses by offloading shares since then.

Exports face challenges as Taka appreciated

The export sector of the country is facing challenges in international market because of local currency’s strong position against US Dollar. A Citibank NA report said Taka remains stable against the US Dollar while major currencies including Euro and British Pound depreciated sharply.

Policy Makers should take steps to cope with situation due to currency mismatch. In January 2016, the price of dollar was Tk78.50 and Tk78.55 in February. But it went down at Tk78.40 in April of same year. In 2016 fiscal year, the economy of Bangladesh grew at 7.11% in which emerging private and stable public investment contributed a lot. The private investment contributed 23% in GDP while it was 22.1 in 2015 fiscal year.

Industrial growth will be negatively affected if this situation continues. 

It’s wrong that the government helps the economy by providing jobs

Many socialists have come up with the idea that the government is helping the economy by hiring more people. This theory couldn’t be more wrong. It is quite impossible to build the economy if you are breaking it simultaneously-meaning that the government usually goes in debt when they acquire more money, resulting into failure. A government has no right to claim otherwise.

When the government is creating job opportunities, they are getting the money from either borrowing, or creating. Either way, this can have a side effect, as the money borrowed is needed to be paid back, and if money is created, the value of currency will drop easily, resulting in price spiral. Whenever the government is borrowing money from some organization, they are binding them to their debt. So the government soon needs money to pay them back. And they get that money from the tax payers. To be accurate, they get the money from normal people, money which is earned with blood and sweat. The taxes should never be used as the cover up money for the government’s foul wastage. The government can never employ people freely. They are bound to pay a huge sum, only resulting in paying more with taxes.

When the government is not borrowing the money, they are creating it. And for that the World Bank can see more and more dollars in the market. This is causing the downfall of the value of currency. And this is resulting in damaging the economy stubbornly.

Many voters seem to be quite ignorant about these important things which can result in electing the wrong government. If the government advertise themselves as a provider of jobs, and ensure them, be sure that those jobs will come in price. These ‘employments’ result in a lot of job losses in the free market, thus no one can surely be successful in these jobs.

So people, who hold the light of the country should ensure that the proper government is chosen and the jobs should always be sought from the free markets.

**Information and contents taken from Business scenario of Bangladesh website. 

Beximco Pharma forms joint venture with Malaysian BioCare

Country’s leading pharmaceuticals company Beximco Pharma formed a joint venture with Malaysian BioCare Manufacturing (M) Sdn. Beximco Pharma which is part of Beximco Group, is the fastest growing manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh.

Beximco Pharma will be responsible for providing technical support to BioCare in developing facilities at Seri Iskandar Pharmaceutical Park. Once the facilities are developed, BioCare will start producing specialised pharmaceutical products.

Malaysian government recently took initiatives to promote local pharmaceutical industry. Beximco Pharma of Bangladesh extended its help to Malaysian government and BioCare. With this Beximco Pharma aims to strengthen their global presence.

Beximco Pharma which is a sister concern of Bangladesh's largest group of companies Beximco Group was founded by Salman F Rahman and Sohail F Rahman in 1976. The company produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and generic pharmaceutical formulation products. Beximco Pharma currently operates at a state of the art facility at a 23-acre site. Around 3,500 people work at the company. It sells products to Austria, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Germany, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Romania, Kuwait, Myanmar,  Nepal, Jordan, Bhutan, Vietnam, Azerbaijan and Ghana among other countries.