Bangladesh's Summit Group plans Singapore listing for power unit by April

Bangladesh’s economic growth soared by 7.28% in the financial year that ended in June 2017 and its population is expected to climb to over 185 million people by 2030.

Together with Pakistan and India, the country is making South Asia a hotspot for LNG demand, attracting investment from gas producers and power plant builders after years of the country being considered an energy backwater.

SGX has granted Summit Power eligibility to list on the exchange, according to Muhammed Aziz Khan, the chairman of Summit Group.

Summit Power is likely to be the first Bangladeshi firm to list in Singapore.

The company has appointed Citigroup, DBS and UBS as global coordinators, Khan said.

Summit Power has about a 13% share of Bangladesh’s electricity generation market, operating 15 power plants with a combined capacity of about 1200 MW.

Summit is also developing Bangladesh’s second floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to handle LNG imports, with the ability to regasify and add 500 million ft³ per day of natural gas to the national grid.

The facility will be located in the Moheshkhali region in the Bay of Bengal is expected to be ready by early next year, said Khan.

Overall, the Summit Group conglomerate had revenue last year of around US$500 million from the energy unit as well as its other businesses including port services, communications, hospitality and industrial parks.

Still, the Summit Power unit plans to invest huge sums in projects over the next five years, including in LNG assets in Bangladesh as well as power projects across Asia, Khan said.

Summit, along with Norway’s Hoegh LNG, is also looking to build a regasification unit in the port of Payra, about 194 km south of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, that could send out 1 billion ft³ per day of gas.

With up to 30% of the over 160 million people in Bangladesh lacking access to electricity, Summit hopes to invest in projects to meet that expected increase in demand, said Khan.

Bangladesh will require about 7 million t of LNG by 2022 and similar volumes of coal by 2024, Khan said.

Summit is also looking to expand into power plant projects outside of Bangladesh. It has bid for a 330 MW plant in Sri Lanka and is studying the markets in Vietnam and Indonesia to tap potential growth, Khan said.

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