5 sponsor directors to quit BD Welding

Five sponsor directors of a listed company, Bangladesh Welding and Electrodes (BD Welding), have sought to quit the company, officials said.

The sponsors, who are also close relative to each other, have already sent a proposal to the state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to buy their shares outside the trading floor of the stock exchanges.

These sponsors are AR Khan, founder of BD Welding, Hosne Ara Khan, wife of AR Khan, Aminur Reza Khan, son of AR Khan, Nahreen Mahmud, sister of AR Khan, and Kazi Anwar Ahmed, husband of Nahreen Mahmud.

The five sponsors hold 35,92,500 shares out of 1,04,00,000 shares of the company.

People close to the sponsors said AR Khan, who is the key person behind the management of the company, is an aged person of 90 years and sick.

Now he wants to transfer his and his relatives' sponsorship to a strong managerial person or company like ICB.

Transfer of the sponsorship is however subject to the approval of Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.

“We have received the proposal from the sponsor directors of BD Welding and we are now studying the proposal as well as the company's business performance,” said Ziaul Haque Khondker, managing director of ICB.

Excluding the five sponsor directors, BD Welding, which was listed with the stock exchanges in 1999, has three other sponsors/directors.

The sponsors and directors hold 48.08 percent stakes in the company, while institutions hold 6.93 percent stakes and general investors hold 44.99 percent shares.

As per the half yearly financial report posted on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website, the company made a net profit of Tk 4.09 million as of June 30, 2008.

The company, however, incurred a net loss of Tk 6.99 million in 2007 against Tk 2.43 million in 2006.

Chittagong-based BD Welding, which is being traded under B category on the stock exchanges, mainly produces welding rod and industrial oxygen.

The authorised capital of the company is Tk 150 million and paid up capital is Tk 104 million.

On the DSE yesterday, each BD Welding share of Tk 10 was traded between Tk 40 and Tk 45.