Thursday, August 13, 2009

King Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Last Royal Mushaera

RBS Group PLC is one of the worst affected by the recent global economic downturn and posted an unprecedented loss of £24.1bn in CY08, the biggest in UK corporate history. Consequently, the group was forced to divest or curtail operations in 36 of the 54 operated countries including Pakistan to raise much needed distress funding.

MCB Bank’s board has approved the acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Pakistan. Following regulatory approvals and share purchase agreement, MCB is likely to acquire 99.37% or 1.71bn shares from the RBS Group while the remaining 0.63% stake or 10.8mn shares will be acquired by means of a mandatory tender offer. Pakistan's largest bank, MCB Bank, will pay around $90 million to acquire the local operations of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Muhammad Aurangzeb is a Chairman of RBS Pakistan Operations. At this juncture of uncertainty, ambiguity & grief he wrote an excellent & meticulous message to all of his colleagues. Every word of this master piece communication is worth reading and class in itself…A moral booster…graceful…emotional high note!!!

Message from Muhammad Aurangzeb, RBS Pakistan, Chairman
Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to confirm today that we have successfully entered into a sale agreement with MCB Bank Limited (MCB) for RBS Pakistan.This marks a new chapter in both RBS Pakistan's and MCB's history,which will give MCB an even stronger presence in their home marketfrom which to build their international growth plans. This creates anexciting opportunity for RBS Pakistan to become part of one of thecountry's largest and most ambitious banks.

MCB recognized the strength of the customer franchise which RBS has built and with the investment they can provide RBS Pakistan will be better able to realize its full potential.

From today, we begin the transition to becoming part of MCB, one of the leading banks in Pakistan with a long standing banking history of over sixty years. MCB operates through a network of over 1,050 branches in Pakistan with more than four million corporate, institutional, personal, small business, agricultural, Islamic and asset financing customers.

Awarded in 2008 as the Best Bank in Asia, Best Bank in Pakistan andBest Domestic Bank in Pakistan, MCB has a record of technologicalinnovations and is focused on making substantial investments inthe banking and financial services sector locally and internationally.

Although many of us will feel relieved that a successful bidder has now been announced, it is important to remember that we are onlyat the beginning of another journey of transition of our operationsto our new owners. This phase will take some time and present usall with some continued uncertainty. It will require the same levels of patience and focus that you have already shown during the lead-up totoday's announcement.

I would also like to reiterate that today's announcement does not mean a change to our business overnight. It will take some time beforewe look and feel like a different entity, so we must continue to focus on building our operations and reassure clients that its business as usual with no change to their existing contracts, levels of service andproduct offering.

During this week, it is critical to stay close to your customers and keep the lines of communication open with your immediate manager. We all need to play a role in communicating to our customers, vendors and the market, that this transaction offers the possibility of greater opportunities, better products and services, and growth potential for our shareholders, clients and employees.

As we begin the process of getting to know our new owner, a seriesof informative town halls will be hosted soon across the country togive you more insight into MCB's culture, strategy and views on ourbusinesses going forward.

I encourage you to regularly review our intranet site to keep you informed as new information comes to hand. I would like to personally extend my thanks once again to you all, for your ongoing commitment to our operations in Pakistan and for your patience prior to today's announcement.

Yours sincerely,
Muhammad Aurangzeb
Chairman, RBS Pakistan

Year 1857: Mushaera was full of bloom, though everyone aware of the bleak future ahead everyone was trying to put his all notions of daad-o-tahseen for every sonnet & couplet being aired….kya kehney hain…Wah…Aah-haa-ha…wah jee…kya baat hai…ghazab hai…ah-wah…Subhan Allah!

That was infact the last episode of Royal Mushaera at the court yard of the last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi…Shama-e-Mehfil lastly sparked, blazed and finally ends up with grey coloured upsurge one liner smoke…Night after the Mushaera was darker & gloomy.

Dard minat kashe dawa na howa
Mien na acha howa boura na howa (Ghalib)

1 comment:

  1. Very motivational correspondence from Chairman

    ReplyDelete