Bond investor appeals to shut down Golden Harvest

February 2, 2025

Muhamad Ayub Ali :

Delta Life Insurance Company Limited, the bond investor of the Golden Harvest, has filed a petition in the court to ban the listed company Golden Harvest Agro PLC.
Delta Life Insurance has filed a petition to recover its investment in Golden Harvest Agro bonds after failed all efforts to recover the money invested in the bonds in 2017.
The company has asked the court to order the closure of Golden Harvest Agro, auction its assets and return Delta Life’s investment.
In this regard, Delta Life’s lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan said to the new nation, “Delta Life is a listed company on the stock exchange and the company has obligations to its clients and shareholders.
He said that according to sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, lenders or bond investors can apply for the closure off a defaulting company. Delta Life has applied to the court under this act.
In view of this, the High Court bench of Justice Khizir Ahmed Chowdhury on January 27 directed the applicant to publish a notice in two newspapers within three weeks and submit a compliance report to the court within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice.
Earlier, Golden Harvest Agro issued a redeemable and non-convertible corporate bond of Tk 50 crore to expand its business through private placement in 2017, after the approval of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2016.
Delta Life’s Chief Financial Officer Milton Bepari told Media, “We invested Tk 10 crore in the bond of Tk 50 crore where the company promised 10 percent to 11.5 percent annual interest and gradually Delta Life Insurance Company moved the court to closure off Golden Harvest Agro PLC to recover their investment.”
The company has failed to repay since the beginning of the redemption period and the seven-year term of the bond has already expired.
They owe more than Tk 25 crore to Delta Life and have sought help from the stock market regulator BSEC, but no help has been received. As a result, Delta Life has been forced to approach the court.
If the court is satisfied after hearing the arguments of both parties that the bond issuer is unable to repay the loan, then they can sell the company’s assets and use the sale proceeds to appoint a liquidator to repay the debts of the deprived bondholders and lenders, according to court sources.