SA Group MD to use Mercantile Bank's shares to repay Southeast Bank loans

The managing director of SA Group of Industries, also a former director of Mercantile Bank, will transfer 40.55 lakh shares of the bank to Southeast Bank to repay outstanding loans.

Md Shahabuddin Alam will transfer the shares within the next 30 working days through a method outside the normal trading system of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, according to a court order.

Alam was the director of Mercantile bank till 2017.

He could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.

A senior official of Southeast Bank said the loan was issued with Mercantile Bank's shares as a lien.

Now Alam will transfer the shares as per the court verdict to repay the outstanding loan, he said.

The SA Group boss has loans of Tk3,600 crore in several banks, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The ACC first opened an inquiry into the wealth of the businessman and his family after it filed a case against seven people–including Alam and his wife–with Dhaka's Gulshan Police Station on October 28, 2018, over the Farmers Bank scandal.

The lawsuit came within two weeks after the Criminal Investigation Department arrested Alam in Dhaka in a case filed by Bank Asia with Chattogram's Financial Loan Court in 2017.

SA Group, which started its journey in 1988, manufactures fast-moving consumer goods, including: edible oil, flour, condensed milk, beverages, salt, and milk.

Later, the group branched out into real estate, pulp and paper products, tea, and tank terminals for storing petroleum products.

It now has 17 units of industry.