Octavius Steel & Company Ltd.

Octavius Steel & Company of Bangladesh Ltd. is another associate company of Duncan Brothers with a long history in tea. It was the managing agent for the Lungla Company gardens (Shumshernugger, Lungla, Etah and Karimpore) from 1898. It was also the managing agent for Dacca Electricity Development Company, the sole producer and distributor of electricity in Dhaka. The Company used to generate power in a coal based power plant located at Hatirpool in Paribagh (a few minutes’ walk from Camellia House). This was taken over by the Government as an essential service installation in the mid-fifties. At that time it appears that the plant had only 7,349 consumers with a connected load of 8501 KW (8.5 MW) in the whole of Dhaka. In 1967, Duncan Brothers and Octavious Steel were brought together under the same ownership structure.

Octavius Steel is also a sponsor shareholder of Chittagong Warehouses Ltd., United Insurance Company Ltd. and United Finance Limited (United Leasing Company Ltd.). From its office in Chittagong, it runs a customs clearing and forwarding agency working mainly for the Group.