The promoters of the IME Group and Hathway Investment have together bought 45.5 percent of the shares of troubled NB Insurance which has long remained virtually closed.

The new investors said that they would soon bring the insurance company into operation after completing the necessary process reports The Kathmandu Post.

According to Hathway, they jointly bought the company’s shares at an auction held by Nepal Bangladesh Bank and Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank which have stakes in NB Insurance.

Hathway’s Managing Director Ambika Prasad Poudel said their company bought 5 percent of the shares while the rest were bought by the promoters of the IME Group.

Of the remaining 54.5 percent of the promoter shares in NB Insurance, the general public owns 20 percent and the rest are held by the NB Group promoted by Jit Bahadur Shrestha and Laxmi Bahadur Shrestha.