BSEC forms body to probe Aman Feed’s irregularities
The inquiry committee will verify all information in Aman Feed's audited financial statements from 2015 to 2020
The stock market regulator on Thursday set up an inquiry committee to unearth alleged irregularities in the financial statements and corporate governance of Aman Feed Limited.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) came up with the move after it had found different anomalies in the activities of the company, which manufactures and distributes poultry feed, fish feed, shrimp feed, and cattle feed.
The three-member committee comprising BSEC's deputy directors Mohammad Shamsur Rahman and Md Iqbal Hossain and Assistant Director Mohammad Asif Iqbal will complete the inquiry and submit a report to the commission within 30 working days.
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It will 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.
According to sources, the committee will also look into the functioning of the board of directors and board committees as per corporate governance regulations.
The initial public offering proceeds and debt capital and the related party transactions between the company and other related parties will also come under the scanner of the investigators.
Besides, the committee will review the audit opinion and role of the statutory auditor in the audit of the financial statements of the company and the reliability of information presented in financial statements and to examine if the company breached securities laws.
The issue came to the fore after AB Bank had arranged an auction for the sale of the company's land and factory in September.
Meanwhile, Aman Feed secured a stay order from the High Court, which asked the company to pay Tk60 crore – Tk20 crore per month – to the lender by December 2020.
According to AB Bank, the company owed around Tk268 crore – including loans and their interest – to the lender till 31 July this year.
But, the value of the company's factory and land in Sirajganj is Tk70 crore.
Aman Feed Limited raised Tk72 crore from the capital market in 2015 through an initial public offering under the book-building method.
The net profit of the company was Tk47.87 crore on 30 June 2019.
From July to December of 2019, Aman Feed's earnings per share were Tk1.60, which were Tk2.28 in the same period of the previous year.
In 2019, it recommended a 13% cash dividend for its shareholders.
