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HSBC to raise biggest fund for poultry

Sajjadur Rahman
Eighteen banks have agreed to arrange Tk 180 crore syndicated loan for Kazi Grand Parents Limited (KGPL), a concern of Kazi Farms Group, to raise its capital for expansion of product lines.
The group, founded in 1996, is now the largest player of Bangladesh's poultry industry.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is the lead arranger of the loan, the biggest-ever poultry sector financing.
“The loan has already been raised. Only documentation remains pending,” Mahbub-ur Rahman, head of corporate affairs of HSBC, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Rahman said the deal is expected to be inked after Eid.
Industry insiders say the Tk 7,000-Tk 8,000 crore industry is expanding rapidly on an increased demand for the protein source. Chicken is now replacing fish and other meat.
Big players, such as Kazi Farms, CP Bangladesh, Aftab and Paragon entered the market in the past few years.
Kazi Farms Group's market share is 25 percent for the day-old chicks (DOC) and 20 percent for broiler feed.
But no company has the capacity to produce "poultry grandparents” that breed flocks for the production of broiler parents hatching eggs and DOC.
Production of such grandparents is now under KGPL’s business expansion plan. The company exported hatching eggs and day-old chicks in 2004.
“Poultry sector has flourished here, in terms of technology and expansion. It has bright prospects," said Mahbub-ur Rahman of HSBC.
Managing Director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury of Pubali Bank, a participant in the KGPL syndication financing, is also upbeat on poultry business.
Kazi Farms Group Managing Director Kazi Zahedul Hasan, however, said he does not want to comment on the project now.
The group has over 50 breeding farms, hatcheries, feed mills and sales offices across the country.
It is also the Bangladesh franchisee of Cobb-Vantress USA for the Cobb 500 broiler. The group is also the distributor for Hy-line brown and white layers in Bangladesh.
saijad@thedailystar net