BD-Thai sues stock crash probe chief

Dhaka, April 25: BD-Thai Aluminium Ltd yesterday filed an appeal with a Dhaka court seeking scrapping of a part of the stockmarket scam probe report that accuses the company of siphoning off Tk 15 crore.

The aluminium products manufacturer also served a legal notice upon the probe committee asking them to pay Tk 100 crore in compensation for making "false" and "fabricated" statements about the company.

It termed the allegations "false, fabricated and unfounded" and requested the court to summon eight people including Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, head of the stockmarket scam probe team, to explain the claims.

After hearing the appeal filed in the form of a case, Judge Aftabuzzaman of the Court of Second Assistant Judge, Dhaka asked Ibrahim Khaled and seven others to appear before it on June 12.

Advocate Abdus Selim Miah, law officer of the company, filed the case.

Ibrahim Khaled, chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, submitted the stockmarket probe report to the finance minister on April 7.

He later told the media that they found evidence of BD-Thai siphoning off Tk 15 crore from the share market.

His statement appeared on different national dailies and tarnished the image of the company, BD-Thai said.

The eight defendants include the three other members of the probe committee -- Mohammad Abdul Bari, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh; Toufic A Choudhury, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management; and Nihad Kabir, a Supreme Court lawyer.

The other defendants are the chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, the director general of Foreign Commerce Control Department of Bangladesh Bank, the managing director of City Bank, and the chief executive officer of Dhaka Stock Exchange.

The legal notice of the company states that Khaled, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, in an interview with ATN Bangla TV channel said the committee got evidence of siphoning off Tk 15 crore by Gem Global in collusion with BD-Thai.

The interview was aired on April 7 and 8, it added.

BD-Thai also asked the members of the probe committee, which implicated top politicians and businessmen, to send a written apology to the company within 15 days for making the statements in their probe report.

In default, the company will file a suit for compensation of Tk 100 crore for making defamatory statements, the notice added.

AQM Sohel Rana, a lawyer of Dr Hamid and Associates, served the legal notice on behalf of BD-Thai, saying the interview of Ibrahim Khaled was mala fide, untrue, defamatory, and biased and damaged the social and business reputation of his client.

BD-Thai is one of the largest manufacturers of anodised and powder coated aluminium profiles, doors, windows, and curtain walls and allied items in Bangladesh.

Its share traded at Tk 875, down by 3.07 percent, on Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

Source: The Daily Star

DSE plunges on selling pressure

Dhaka, April 25:Dhaka stocks posted a sharp fall on Sunday driven by heavy selling pressure from general investors, whose uncertainty about the probe report's possible upshot on the market further deepened as the government was yet to come up with any action plan based on the report.

Market operators said a large section of retail investors went for bulk sale on the day as the continued downtrend in the market since the past week and the lack of corrective measure on the part of the regulators and the government infused them with the fear that the market would slip further.

'Investors have lost the trust they seemed to have regained in the past two months. The government's hush-hush policy about the probe report and the power wielded by the alleged manipulators pushed them into a state of utter frustration,' remarked an official at a brokerage house.

Many of the general investors who went for heavy sale on the day did so with an intention to leave the market and stay away from it until they perceived it was becoming stable and suitable for investment. They also expressed their frustration over the government's role about the probe report.

'The government has proven itself gutless as it could not came up with any action in two long weeks after submission of the report to assure the investors that it was working on the issue,' remarked an investor in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange building.

He said, 'The government's words do not match its actions, due to which we are losing track of market trait and its direction.'

The benchmark general index, or DGEN, of the country's premier bourse lost 116.29 points, or 1.87 per cent, to close the day at 6,076.31 points.

The turnover on the day, however, increased to Tk 631.10 crore from that of Tk 476.82 crore on Thursday, the previous trading day, due to the rush to sell off shares.

Most of the scrip, except Beximco, lost much value on the day. All the five issues of Beximco Group witnessed an unprecedented rise posting a Tk 183.14 crore turnover, which was 29 per cent of the total turnover of the bourse on the day.

The day saw Beximco rising by 6.98 per cent, Bextex by 9.63 per cent, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited by 9.07 per cent, Beximco Synthetic by 6.40 per cent, and Beximco Pharma by 7.85 per cent.

Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a finance teacher of Dhaka University, said, 'Investors are clueless about the market's prospect as different quarters concerned had been issuing different statements from their own stance.'

He also called for keeping the market under strong surveillance at this time to avoid further volatility.

'When the overall market is negative, surveillance against unusual price hike of any scrip is a priority to prevent any possible manipulation,' the former chief executive officer of the DSE maintained.

Akter H Sannamat, a capital market analyst, said, 'On Sunday, the investors became more discouraged than ever following the finance minister's remark about reforming the Securities and Exchange Commission.'

'The government should come up with a positive attitude to address the situation and restore investors' confidence,' he said.

Out of the total 255 issues traded on the day, 23 advanced, 227 suffered heavy loss, and five remained unchanged. 

Source: New Age

MI Cement listing deadlock likely to end by this week

Dhaka, April 25:The Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to issue a directive this week to the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses asking them to enlist MI Cements Ltd on condition that the company will compensate its shareholders from the directors' accounts if its shares are traded below the IPO issue price in the six months of its listing.

The SEC expressed its willingness to settle the listing deadlock the company has been facing in a meeting with the representatives of the company and the two bourses at the SEC boardroom on Sunday morning, commission sources said.

MI Cements chairman Jahangir Alam told New Age on Sunday, 'We will keep Tk 5 crore in reserve in a bank account to compensate the shareholders in case they lose money in share trading in six month of the company's listing.'

'We have also agreed to keep the directors' shares, which account for 70 per cent of the total shares, floated on the market under the custody of the DSE to realise funds for the investors' compensation claims if the fund to be kept reserved in a bank account for the purpose is found insufficient to cover losses,' he said.

A senior official of MI Cement said that the SEC, DSE and CSE agreed to the condition proposed by the company.

Source: New Age

Market Disclosures [25-04-11]

Summit Alliance Port
Alliance Holdings Ltd, one of the corporate sponsors of the company, has reported its intention to sell 11,95,690 shares out of its total holdings of 79,36,300 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days. It is to be noted that Alliance Holdings Ltd earlier reported its intention to sell 20,32,590 shares of the company on October 28, 2010 and completed its sale of 8,36,900 shares up to October 31, 2010. Now it intends to sell the remaining 11,95,690 shares.

Bangladesh Finance and Investment Co
Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from April 25 to 27. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on April 28.

Green Delta Insurance
Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from April 25 to 27.  Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on April 28.

United Leasing
Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from April 25 to 27. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on April 28.

One Bank
Asaduz Zaman, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 60,000 shares (bonus shares) out of his total holdings of 4,69,346 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Peoples Insurance
Golam Faruk Ahmed, one of the directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 2,00,000 shares (bonus Shares) out of his total holdings of 6,87,450 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Asia Pacific General Insurance Co
AHM Mustafa Kamal, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 77,700 shares out of his total holdings of 1,55,400 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Uttara Finance
The board of directors has recommended 40 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010. The AGM will be held on May 30. Record date will be on May 3.

United Commercial Bank
The board of directors has recommended 25 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010. The AGM will be held on May 30 at 10:30am at Army Golf Club at Dhaka Cantonment in Dhaka. Record date will be on May 4.

City General Insurance
The board of directors has recommended 12 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010. The AGM will be held on June 23 at 10:30am at Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh at Kakrail in Dhaka. Record date will be on May 4.
Source: New Age