Among other verticals, the company’s textile division is a fully integrated manufacturer of cotton and polyester blended garments for men, women and children, both for domestic and export markets
Beximco was founded by two brothers – Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman and Salman Fazlur Rahman – in the 1970s. Since the early days, the group has evolved from being primarily a commodities trading company to a leading, diversified group with a presence in industry sectors that account for nearly 75% of Bangladesh’s GDP. Today, the Beximco Group is the largest private sector group in Bangladesh. It sells its products and services in the domestic Bangladesh market as well as international markets. The group’s global clients include some of the world’s best-known brands including BT, Chevron, Calvin Klein, H and M, JC Penney, Macys, Zara, UNICEF, Royal Doulton, and Villeroy and Boch.
Beximco is the largest employer in the private sector in Bangladesh and employs over 70,000 people worldwide. The group consists of four publicly traded and 17 privately held companies. The publicly traded companies are Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited and Beximco Synthetics Limited. The total revenue of the group stands in excess of USD 1 billion per year. Beximco encompasses one of South Asia’s largest vertically integrated textile and garment companies.
The textile division is a fully integrated manufacturer of cotton and polyester blended garments for men, women and children, both for domestic and export markets. State-of-the-art manufacturing plants located in the vicinity of Dhaka provide the group with a highly cost-effective manufacturing base. A majority of its plants are in the Beximco Industrial Park, a vertically integrated self-contained facility. This facility provides ready access to captive power generation, water purification, liquid nitrogen, waste water treatment and other key infrastructure.
Beximco is also the largest exporter of pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh with presence in 55 countries. The pharmaceuticals division manufactures and sells generic pharmaceutical formulation products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and intravenous (IV) fluids. The group is also the largest ceramics exporter in Bangladesh. In recent times Beximco has launched its newest vertical, the Beximco PPE Division, which is responsible for producing the highest grade of internationally certified PPE products for medical use. Beximco is well-positioned to capitalise on strong growth across industries in both the domestic and global markets.
Each group company is managed by an independent, professional team with significant depth of experience. Management teams have established a clear strategic plan that will further strengthen the overall platform. Beximco intends to leverage its market position and global scale, further diversify operations into highly profitable sectors, capitalise on the domestic growth opportunity and selectively pursue international opportunities going forward.
Textile Division
The principal business activities of the company’s textile division include investment operation, agency and trading in other commodities, producing, manufacturing and marketing of yarn that are consumed by weaving mills of Bangladesh including its own weaving mills, producing and marketing of high-quality fabric that are eventually consumed by the export-oriented garments industries of Bangladesh including the garments factories of Beximco Group.
Beximco Health Division
The company has now decided to diversify into PPE manufacture and export in a big way. For achieving this objective, the textile division has established Beximco Health. PPE products must obtain certification from national regulatory authorities before products can be imported into their respective countries. For this, products have to be tested to confirm they meet regulatory requirements and standards. Unfortunately, testing facilities in Bangladesh are limited and high-value Category 3 and Category 4 products have to be sent abroad for testing.
In order to overcome this obstacle the company entered into a joint venture agreement with Intertek UK, an internationally renowned inspection agency to set up a world-class independent testing laboratory within Beximco Health’s premises. Physical facilities, equipment and manpower are all in place and the laboratory will be operational in December this year. Massive investments have also been made for setting up a completely vertical manufacturing facility for manufacturing Category 1 to Category 4 PPE gowns and all kinds of masks including N 95 masks. The company has invested in production of spun bound and melt blown fabric, thereby ensuring the production of the three-layer SMS fabric essential for PPE products.
The company is confident that Beximco Health will become a global leader in this market segment. Over the years, Beximco has developed in-house design capabilities with teams based in Bangladesh and Spain. Furthermore, it has partnered with some of the world’s renowned design institutes, including Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons, London School of Fashions, NIFT and NID for access to talented designers. The group has built strong working relationships with its core clients through a continuous dialogue.
The group’s technology partners include Invista, Huntsman, CHT, Rudof and Clariant. Its key clients include American Eagle, Arcadia Group, Calvin Klein, H and M, Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Warnaco and Zara. The group is planning to expand the textiles business through capacity additions. Post expansion, the annual capacity of knit fabric is expected to increase to 80 million lbs from 11 million lbs currently and the annual capacity of apparel knits is expected to reach 145 million pieces from 20 million pieces currently.