GPH Ispat explained

GPH Ispat Limited
Native Name:জিপিএইচ ইস্পাত লিমিটেড
Native Name Lang:bn
Type:Public Limited
Traded As:
Parent:GPH Group
Num Employees:2,286 (as of 30 June 2023)
Industry:Reinforcement steel
Hq Location:Crown Chamber, Asadganj-325
Hq Location City:Chittagong
Hq Location Country:Bangladesh
Founder:Mohammed Jahangir Alam
Key People:
Revenue: Crore
Revenue Year:2022-23
Net Income: Crore
Net Income Year:2022-23
Assets: Crore
Assets Year:2022-23

GPH Ispat Limited (Bengali: জিপিএইচ ইস্পাত লিমিটেড) is a public limited steel manufacturing company based in Chittagong, Bangladesh.[1] [2] [3] [4]

Name

GPH is the acronym of "God fearing", "Plain living" and "High Thinking". Ispat is the transliteration of the Bengali word ইস্পাত which means Steel.

History

The company was founded on 17 May 2006 and started its operation in 2008.[5] It was listed as a public limited company in 2012.[6]

In 2016, the company started its expansion project in Sitakunda, Chittagong in association with Primetals Technologies, a joint venture of Siemens VAI and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries & Partners as the equipment supplier. The company invested around US$200 million for the 0.8 MTPY steel manufacturing facility.[7] The new mill uses a Quantum electric arc furnace, a ladle furnace, a three-strand, high-speed continuous billet caster, and a bar and section mill. It uses WinLink Flex technology for rolling mill for the first time in world.[8] The company raised a total amount of US$154 million through 12 financial institutions as well as capital market and company's retained earnings for the expansion project.[9] It purchased 8.85 acres of land for the new factory beside its old steel plant.[10]

It collected term loans of $95 million from ODDO BHF Bank of Germany and $44.2 million from the World Bank, which were disbursed through commercial banks under the supervision of central bank of Bangladesh.

It started selling products of its new plant to local and foreign markets from September 2020.[11]

Environmental issue

In April 2019, Forest department of Bangladesh Government filed a case against GPH Ispat Limited authorities accusing them of destroying the environment by cutting hills and constructing makeshift dams in a protected area, and by stopping the flow of water in the area, changing course and character of the natural stream and damaging biodiversity that caused heavy financial loss.[12] Later on, GPH ispat published a clarification through national dailies. According to them, it was a pre-preparatory work of the rain water harvesting project, not makeshift dam.[13]

GPH Ispat filed a revision request against the charge in 2022, which was dismissed by the court on 31 January 2023. The case is being tried in the court at present.[14]

In June 2024, newspaper reports were published about the company making a concrete dam in the same reservoir.[15]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: GPH Ispat sees steady growth in net profit, turnover in last three FYs . Mufazzal . Mohammad . 2019-06-09 . 2019-07-25 . Dhaka . The Financial Express . https://web.archive.org/web/20190725124641/https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/gph-ispat-sees-steady-growth-in-net-profit-turnover-in-last-three-fys-1560007351 . 2019-07-25 . live .
  2. News: GPH, German company reach agreement . 2017-08-25 . Dhaka . 2019-07-25 . Daily Sun . https://web.archive.org/web/20190725143141/https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/250253/GPH-German-company-reach-agreement . 2019-07-25 . live .
  3. News: CCC, GPH Ispat sign pact to beautify the port city. 2018-11-18. Daily Asian Age. 2019-07-25. Dhaka.
  4. News: GPH Ispat signs deal with a foreign firm for expansion. 2016-01-16. The Daily Star. The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 2019-07-25. Dhaka. https://web.archive.org/web/20190725131805/https://www.thedailystar.net/business/gph-ispat-signs-deal-foreign-firm-expansion-204742. 2019-07-25. live.
  5. Web site: GPH Ispat. 2018-01-14. GPH Ispat. 2019-07-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20190725124644/http://www.gphispat.com.bd/About/CorporateInformation/. 2019-07-25. live.
  6. News: GPH Ispat to invest Tk 1,700cr for expansion. 2016-01-14. The Daily Star. 2019-07-25. Dhaka. https://web.archive.org/web/20190725130145/https://www.thedailystar.net/business/gph-ispat-invest-tk-1700cr-expansion-201655. 2019-07-25. live.
  7. News: GPH Ispat signs deal with a foreign firm for expansion. 2016-01-21. The Daily Star. en. 2019-09-27.
  8. Web site: Primetals Technologies to supply new Minimill with EAF Quantum and WinLink to GPH Ispat in Bangladesh. SteelGuru India. en. 2019-10-11.
  9. News: GPH Ispat secures $154m in biggest syndicated loan. 2016-05-29. The Daily Star. en. 2019-10-11.
  10. Web site: 2020-09-07. GPH Ispat opens Tk 2,390cr plant, stocks shoot up. 2020-10-20. The Daily Star. en.
  11. Web site: 2020-10-14. GPH Ispat to ship 25,000 tonnes of billet to China. 2020-10-20. The Daily Star. en.
  12. News: Dam makeshift, damage extensive. 2019-04-28. The Daily Star. en. 2019-09-27.
  13. News: GPH Ispat . Clarification . 2019-10-11 . The Daily Star . 2019-04-30 . en.
  14. News: Cutting forests, building dam: Case against GPH Ispat ready for trial after 5-year . 15 June 2023 . The Business Standard . 8 June 2023 . en.
  15. Web site: Nasir Uddin Rocky . 4 June 2024 . এবার পাহাড়ি ছড়ায় ‘কংক্রিটের বাঁধ’ নির্মাণ করেছে জিপিএইচ ইস্পাত . 2024-06-08 . Bangla Tribune . bn.