Summit Group is a Bangladeshi conglomerate. It has business interests in communication, trading, energy and power, shipping.[4][5]
History
Summit Power Limited was established on 30 March 1997 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.[6] Muhammed Aziz Khan is the founding chairman of Summit.[7] It is a subsidiary of Summit Power International based in Singapore.[6] On 7 June 2004, Summit Power was made into a public limited company.[6]
In September 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission sued former prime minister Sheikh Hasina for allegedly taking a 30 million BDT bribe from Summit Group, Wärtsilä, and United Group in return for a 100 mW powerplant in Khulna.[8] The bribe was used to buy a property in Dhanmondi under the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust.[8] The other accused in the case were Abul Kalam Azad, Nooruddin Mahmud Kamal, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Muhammed Aziz Khan, Hasan Mahmud Raja, and Farid Khan.[8]
Summit Communication received a nationwide telecommunication transmission network license from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission in 2009,[9] and laid down the largest fibre optic cable network in Bangladesh.[10]
In January 2011, Summit Group signed an agreement with the World Bank to finance the purchase of equipment from General Electric worth US$115 million for Bibiyana power plant.[11]
In November 2012, Summit Group signed an agreement with China Energy Group to cooperate in the energy sector.[12]
Taiyo Life Insurance purchased 12.6 percent of Meghnaghat power plant from Summit Group in 2013 for US$20.3 million.[13]
In July 2014, Summit Group received a US$190 million loan from Standard Chartered Bank for a power plant in Narayanganj District to be built by its subsidiary Summit Meghnaghat Power Company Limited.[14]
In 2016, Summit Group formed Summit Technopolis, a joint venture with Indian company Infinity Infotech Parks Limited, to build a hi-tech park in Gazipur.[15] Summit Group merged Summit Purbanchol Power Company, Summit Narayanganj Power, and Summit Uttaranchal Power Company under Summit Power.[16] Aziz Khan was appointed the honorary counsel general of Finland in Bangladesh.[17]
In April 2017, Summit Group secured a loan from The City Bank for Summit Barisal Power Limited and Summit Narayanganj Power Unit II Limited.[18] It signed an agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board to build 149MW power plant in Gazipur District.[19]Wärtsilä would supply the equipment for the Gazipur plant.[20] Faisal Khan was appointed additional managing director of Summit Group in July 2017.[21] It received permission to establish a liquefied natural gas terminal in Moheshkhali.[22] The group would invest 3 billion USD to build the terminal with Mitsubishi Corporation.[23] The terminal was given a 15 year tax exemption by the National Board of Revenue.[24]
In 2018, the chairman of Summit, Aziz Khan, was the 34th richest man in Singapore.[25] Summit Alliance Port East Gateway, a subsidiary of Summit Group, received contract for three river terminals in India from the Inland Waterways Authority of India.[26]
In April 2019, Summit Group started supplying the national grid with Liquefied natural gas.[27] In October 2019, JERA purchased a 22 percent of Summit Power International for US$330 million.[28] The company announced plans to invest five billion USD next five years with 60 percent of the investment coming from JERA.[29] It announced a US$500 million joint investment with JERA to build the Matarbari Power Plant.[30]
In 2022, the chairman of Summit, Aziz Khan, was the 42nd richest man in Singapore.[33] According to The Daily Star, Summit Group received the second highest capacity charge from the government of Bangladesh at 12.57 percent of capacity charge payments.[34]
