Active Fine to transfer mortgaged AFC Agro shares to Dhaka Bank
Failing to repay a Tk10 crore loan from Dhaka Bank, Active Fine Chemicals has now decided to transfer some 20% of its AFC Agro Biotech shares – that were mortgaged against the loan – to the lender as repayment.
Active Fine Chemicals is a sponsor of AFC Agro and holds a 12% stake in the latter, whereas it is supposed to hold at least 30% shares as required by the securities regulator. Both firms are listed on the stock market.
Of its 1.38 crore shares in AFC Agro, Active Fine will transfer 28,18,500 shares worth Tk6.62 crore to the Banani branch of Dhaka Bank.
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AFC Agro, in a stock exchange filing on Thursday, said the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has given consent to this transfer outside the bourse's trading system, and the transfer will be completed within 30 working days from the date of approval letter issuance by the DSE.
A Dhaka Bank official said the shares will be transferred in the name of the bank because the company failed to repay the loan.
Out of the Tk10 crore loan, the company did repay some of it. Now, the outstanding amount is Tk8.5 crore, and the loan has been identified as classified.
"However, even after the share transfer, some portion of the loan will remain outstanding," he said.
Back in 2020, the loan was rescheduled once. Active Fine wanted to reschedule the loan again, but it did not happen.
Thus, the company decided to hand the mortgaged shares over to the bank.
On being contacted, the officials of Active Fine declined to provide any information regarding the matter.
Active Fine Chemicals got listed on the stock exchanges in 2010.
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, the company paid a 0.25% cash dividend to the shareholders.
The company made a profit of Tk71.19 crore in FY19. Its net profit has been falling since then. In FY22, it stood at Tk2.59 crore.
Active Fine has also failed to meet the regulatory requirement of at least 30% shareholding by sponsor-directors.
