Walton Group
Summary
Company Background
Walton is a multinational company headquartered in Bangladesh. The company was established back in 1977 as Rezvi & Brothers and got registered as R. B. Groups of Companies Limited in 2001. The group of companies produces electricals, electronics, automobiles, smartphones, and other appliances under the brand name “Walton”.
The company is equipped with largest R&D facilities and has a substantial market share in both domestic and international markets. According to the company website, Walton is a professional manufacturer with high reputation and unbeatable capacity of producing what it produces in the most competitive way in terms of cost, quality, innovation and design. The company has 22 production bases in 680+ acres of land employing 20,000+ employees.
Walton belongs to the R.B. Group, which is a local business conglomerate that produces and markets the products under the brand name “Walton”. Therefore, the group is known as Walton Group. The conglomerate has 8 sister concerns including Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited, Walton Micro-Tech Corporation, Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited, and Walton Motors.1
Major products of the company are refrigerator, television, air conditioner, laptops, mobile phones and a latest addition is elevator. The company also had started producing motorcycles initially. Currently, it has become the tech giant in Bangladesh as it holds 66% share of refrigerator market, 50% share of television market and 33% share of the air conditioner market. The business of the company in technological sector started in 1997 when Walton started importing and marketing black-and-white television sets. The company later on started importing parts of television and motorcycles to start assembling them. The assembling business continued until 2010 when the management found that it can start manufacturing the products locally. Imported products were not meeting the need of the consumers in the local market. Upon establishment of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited in 2006, the company started producing refrigerator and motorcycles that got huge response from the consumers owing to the competitive pricing and high quality. The company then moved to produce air conditioner.
The distribution channel of the company is extensive throughout the country. It has a market coverage using more than 13,000 POS (Point of Sale) and different distribution channels such as Walton Plaza, Dealers, Walton E-Plaza, Distributors, Sub-Dealers, Corporate Sales, International Business Unit (IBU), Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and Original Design Manufacturer (ODM).
Global Operation
Walton has become the first local electronic company of Bangladesh to export its products in more than 40 countries around the world, mainly in the Middle-East and African countries as well as some European countries such as Romania and Germany.2 Primary products of export are televisions, air conditions, and mobile phones. The brand maintains international representative offices located in Qatar, China, Nepal, India, Thailand, and USA. The company has started exporting smartphones to the USA market and air conditioner to the Indian market. The company also plans to invest $500,000 in the USA through Walton Corporation United States of America.3
Subsidiaries
Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited
Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL) is the top subsidiary of R.B. Group. It came into existence on April 17, 2006 by being incorporating as a private limited company. Operation of the company started in 2008. On May 14, 2018, the company got registered as a public limited company with Registrat of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) as per Company Act 1994. WHIL is the first complete manufacturer of Electrical & Electronic (E&E) products in Bangladesh. The company produces refrigerator, air conditioner, freezer, compressor, television and home electrical appliances.
WHIL received many awards which indicates the success of the company operation. Some awards are listed below –
- Best Brand Award Bangladesh – 2014
- DHL-Daily Star Bangladesh Business Award – 2014
- Global Brand Excellence Awards – 2014
- The Golden Globe Tigers Summit Awards – 2015
- “Highest VAT Payer in Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF)” for the consecutive last twelve years till 2018
- Bangladesh Master Brand Award – 2018
- 8th HSBC Export Excellence Award – 2018
- National Environment Award – 2018
WHIL is the subsidiary through which Walton Group has exposed its operation to the capital market. The subsidiary issued IPO through book building method in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2020. IPO subscription begun on August 8, 2020 and lottery results published on 06 September, 2020. The company raised Tk 100 crore from the offering.
Walton Micro-Tech Corporation
This subsidiary of Walton Group is situated beside WHIL in Chandra, Gazipur, Bangladesh. The company was established separately to facilitate production of small electronics such televisions (LED, CRT), blender, induction cooker, rice cooker, hair dryer, fan, air cooler, LED lights, electric motor, mobile phones and so on.
Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited
Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited, located beside WHIL, is a sister concern of Walton Group.4 This subsidiary of the company produces laptops, mobile, PCB/PCBA, software, server infrastructure, and software application.5 The company wants to provide innovative solutions to the customers and become a top computer manufacturer by 2022 with the tag ‘Made in Bangladesh’. Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited is primarily concerned with laptop production of Walton Group.
The Stock Market Debut, 2020
Walton Group has made its stock market debut in 2020 by offloading 0.97% shares of its subsidiary Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited. Of the 0.97% shares, 0.46% is allocated to the institutional investors and 0.51% to the general public. The rest 99.03% shares are held by the sponsor-directors. The IPO (initial public offering) received its go-ahead on June 23, 2020 from the authority. IPO subscription has been open between August 9 and August 16 of the same year. The lottery was held on September 06, 2020.
AAA Finance and Investment Limited was the issue manager of the IPO. The target of the offering was to raise a capital equal to Tk 1.0 billion. The company has its authorised capital of Tk 6.0 billion, while the pre-IPO paid-up capital was Tk 3.0 billion. Under book building method, electronic bidding was conducted due to Covid-19 and the price was fixed at Tk 315 each share for the eligible institutional investors, who have received 1.38 million shares. Besides the statutory discount of 10%, the company has granted an additional 10% discount, making it 20%, for the general investors; thus, the price for the general investors including non-resident Bangladeshis was Tk 252 each share. The number of shares sold at this discounted price is 1.55 million.
There has been a general hype about the tech giant in the country going public. The stock made its debut trading on both the stock markets, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chattagram Stock Exchange (CSE), on September 23, 2020. The public hype has caused a stellar 50% increase, which is the ceiling, in the price of the stock on the first day of trading in both exchanges.
Business Overview of WHIL
- ^ https://www.risingbd.com/english/education/news/743
- ^ https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/05/24/walton-to-go-global-through-us-branch
- ^ https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/05/24/walton-to-go-global-through-us-branch
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/company/walton-digitech/about/
- ^ http://digi-tech.com.bd/
