Muhammed Aziz Khan, PBM, (born 1955) is a Bangladeshi billionaire industrialist, founder and chairman of the Summit Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh, whose power projects generate nearly 20% of Bangladesh's electricity. Khan has led Summit Group from starting as Bangladesh's first private sector power producer to a diversified group with investments across power, energy trading, port, telecommunications, hospitality and real estate. He is the 42nd richest person in Singapore.
Khan has led Summit in building partnerships with multinationals such as GE, IFC and Wärtsilä while securing billions of dollars in financing for infrastructure projects within Bangladesh. Khan pledged to invest another $3 billion into Bangladesh's energy sector.
Early life
Khan is the son of an army officer. His first steps as an businessman were taken with a friend, whose father's death thrust him into the family import business. The 18-year-old Khan borrowed Tk 30,000 from his father to partner in the venture in 1973.
He received an MBA in 1980 from the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka (IBA). He studied in Armanitola Government High School and Notredame College, Dhaka.
He started with trading chemicals in Chawk Bazar and Urdu Road in Old Dhaka. Later he expanded his business with support from renowned businessmen such as Anwar Hossain of Anwar Group and Din Mohammad of Phoenix Group. Khan received his early loans from state-owned Pubali Bank and Rupali Bank. He discovered the importance of establishing goodwill that allowed easy financial mobilization.
Later he started trading plastic. In 1988, Khan purchased his first home in Singapore after becoming a permanent resident.
Career
Under his leadership, Summit Group set up the country's first independent power plant in 1998, Khulna Power Company Limited.
Summit set up the country's first private off-dock facility, Ocean Containers Limited, now known as Summit Alliance Port Limited which is currently handling about 30% of the country's export and about 10% of the country's import volume.
Summit Communications Ltd is the first company to lay nationwide telecommunication transmission network laying fibre optic to 70% of Bangladesh, and connecting Bangladesh to India and Myanmar through terrestrial fibre optics.
IPCO Ltd, a hospitality and real estate company, is building one five star and one three star hotels, a convention hall and 1000 shops beside the International Airport of Dhaka.
In 2011, Khan led Summit Group in establishing a joint venture with GE to build plants generating 327 megawatts of electricity for Bangladesh. This joint venture secured funding of $327 million, including $112 million from the World Bank.
In 2012, Khan led Summit Group in establishing a joint venture with China Energy Group, the largest government-owned Chinese company, to build various power projects, including a 341 megawatt power plant with a $220 million deal for China Energy Group to provide construction and engineering services.
In 2015, Khan was elected president of the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies. He also led Summit Group in winning a deal to build Bangladesh's first high-tech business park, agreeing to invest $207 million to build part of the park across its 232-acre land in Kaliakor, Bangladesh.
In April 2016, Khan, his wife Anjuman Aziz Khan, daughter Ayesha Aziz Khan, brother Zafar Umayyad Khan and nephew Faisal Karim Khan were named in the Panama Papers as operating six offshore companies, mostly in the British Virgin Islands using a Singapore address. Summit Group states that it has no business in any form in Panama, nor it has any link with the legal firm Mossack Fonseca, and that there has not been any mention whatsoever of Khan in "The Panama Papers". The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has started an investigation into the money laundering and tax evasion histories of 25 Bangladeshi politicians and businessmen, including Khan; and the Anti Corruption Commission Bangladesh (ACC) has created a three-member committee to investigate. However, the Bangladesh-based British journalist David Bergman has clarified that the only Bangladeshi people linked to offshore companies as released by the ICIJ relate to an earlier 2013 leak of information involving the British Virgin Islands.
In May 2016, Khan was appointed Honorary Consul General of Finland in Bangladesh due to his long-standing business relationship with Finland. In particular, Aziz Khan has led Summit Group in building close trade relationships with leading Finnish company Wartsila, who has supplied machinery and equipment to many of the Summit Group's power project.