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About

Built one capable
business at a time

01 Who we are

The
premise

Sandton Dhaka Ltd. is a Bangladeshi enterprise with interests spanning petroleum refining, polymer manufacturing, marine resources, real estate, capital markets, industrial minerals and business services.

It was not assembled by buying unrelated assets. Each company began as an answer to a supply problem — a material that had to be imported, a service that had to be bought abroad, a lead time that could not be met locally. Solving those problems built plants, fleets and floors, and those became companies.

The result looks diversified from outside and reads as coherent from inside: businesses that make what the domestic economy needs, held for the long term, financed conservatively, and governed from one office in Banglamotor.

02 History

Twenty-eight
years

Growth came in steps, each one financed largely out of the last. No company in the portfolio was acquired at distress and none was bought to be resold.

1998 Sandton Refinery commissioned Condensate fractionation begins at Narayanganj, supplying solvents to paint and adhesive manufacturers who had imported them until then. Refining
2002 Marine operations begin First licensed deep-sea trawlers enter service from Chattogram, with on-board freezing from the outset. Marine
2004 Polymer moulding plant opens The Gazipur plant starts injection moulding for household goods, later adding blow-moulded packaging and contract work. Manufacturing
2006 Property development established Land assembly begins in Dhaka, with the first residential and commercial buildings retained rather than sold on. Property
2007 Brokerage licensed Sandton Shares & Securities begins execution on the Dhaka and Chittagong exchanges. Finance
2011 Contact centre opens in Banani Domestic voice delivery starts, expanding into back-office processing and international work over the following decade. Services
2015 Silica processing established Washing and grading operations open in Sylhet Division, supplying glass and foundry customers to specification. Materials

03 Structure

What the head
office does

The head office does not run the companies. It owns them, funds them, governs them, and sets the direction they operate within. Day-to-day authority sits with each company’s own management; accountability comes back to the board.

01

Strategy & portfolio

Which businesses we are in, which we enter, which we leave. Reviewed annually against a ten-year horizon rather than a quarterly one.

02

Capital allocation

Funding, gearing limits, banking relationships and reinvestment priorities. Companies compete for capital on returns and strategic fit.

03

Governance & risk

Board oversight, statutory compliance, internal audit, insurance and the risk register maintained across every company.

04

Shared services

Treasury, legal, human resources, procurement leverage and technology — carried once centrally rather than seven times over.

04 Principles

How we
work

Applied to every company, whether it runs a plant or a trading desk.

i Patient capital Assets are bought to be held. Projects are underwritten on what they earn over a decade, not on what they resell for next year.
ii Operational depth Each company is staffed by people from its own industry. We do not appoint generalists to run technical businesses.
iii Conservative finance Gearing stays within limits that survive a bad year. Liquidity is held for conditions rather than for opportunities.
iv Reliable counterparty Contracts are honoured in difficult conditions, not only in easy ones. Reputation is our cheapest source of capital.
v Formal employment Written contracts, statutory benefits paid in full, safety training before the floor, and a route from operator to supervisor.

05 At a glance

1998

Established

7

Operating companies

6

Sites nationwide

3,412

People employed

Legal nameSandton Dhaka Ltd.
Established1998
Head officeSandton Centre, 113 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Banglamotor, Dhaka 1000
StructureParent company with seven operating subsidiaries
OwnershipPrivately held
SectorsEnergy, manufacturing, marine, property, finance, minerals, services
Operating sitesDhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Chattogram, Sylhet
People3,412
Financial year1 July – 30 June
AccountsExternally audited and filed annually