Aman Feed’s assets put on auction for loan default

In a bid to recover the default loan of Tk281.49 crore, AB Bank has again put the factories and land of Aman Feed, a sister concern of Aman Group, on auction.

"We allowed them enough time but they did not repay the loan. That is why we have put their assets on auction," an official of the private sector lender, seeking anonymity, told The Business Standard.  

He added that the lender had good relations with Aman Group for a long time.

The bank on Thursday published the auction notice for selling the property shown as mortgage by the poultry feed maker.

As per Aman Feed's financial statement, the approximate value of the property, including the factories and pieces of lands in Sirajganj and Gazipur, is more than Tk140 crore.

Earlier in August last year, the bank put the Aman Feed's assets on sale.

Meanwhile, Aman Feed had secured a stay from the High Court, which had asked the company to repay Tk60 crore – Tk20 crore per month – to the lender by December 2020. But the company did not comply with the court order.

This correspondent phoned both Managing Director Shafiqul Islam and Company Secretary Md Monirul Islam for comments, but they did not answer.

Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer of the company Shankar Kumar Das refused to comment on the issue.

On 22 October last year, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) set up an inquiry committee to unearth alleged irregularities in the financial statements and corporate governance of Aman Feed.

The committee is working to verify all the information in Aman Feed's audited financial statements from 2015 to 2020 as per International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards.

The company got listed on the country's stock exchanges in 2015. It has raised Tk72 crore by issuing two crore shares at Tk36 each, including a Tk26 premium, through an initial public offering (IPO).

The company, however, in its IPO utilisation report submitted to the stock market regulator said all the loans as per the proposal in the IPO were repaid to AB Bank.

On 28 January last year, the securities regulator fined four directors of Aman Feed of Tk25 lakh each for providing false information on using IPO funds.

The BSEC has also ordered the Institute of Chartered Accountants to take action against the Aman Feed's auditor ACNABIN Chartered Accountants. The firm breached rules by not mentioning the violation of this securities law in its audit report. Consequently, Md Rokonuzzaman, a partner of the accounting firm, will never be allowed to audit the spending of any IPO fund.

In the last fiscal year, the company posted around Tk800 crore in revenue and a net profit of Tk35 crore. It recommended 10% cash and 2.5% stock dividends to the shareholders for the last fiscal.

Though the company did not pay back its bank loan, it has been paying dividends to its shareholders on a regular basis since its listing on the capital market.