Sonali Bank puts Alpha Tobacco’s assets on auction

Sonali Bank has called an auction for 10 January 2023 to sell Alpha Tobacco Manufacturing Company's assets to recover the defaulted loan of Tk196 crore.

The state-owned lender has recently published the auction notice in newspapers.

According to bank sources, the company took a loan from the Jashore branch of Sonali Bank by mortgaging the factory and land in the district. But for a long time, the company is not able to repay the loan.

Alpha Tobacco's Chief Financial Officer Md Mofiz told The Business Standard, "We have received the notice from the bank."

Alpha Tobacco, which got listed on the capital market in 1976, was delisted from the main trading platform of the stock exchanges and placed in the over-the-counter (OTC) market in 2009 due to its failure to pay dividends for a long time.

According to sources at the company, at one time Alpha Tobacco was positioned after British American Tobacco and it was the first to export cigarettes from Bangladesh.

Even in 1990, the company paid a 100% cash dividend to its shareholders. But after the death of its main entrepreneur AM Aga Yousuf, the company began to suffer. And since 2004, it has not been able to pay dividends.

Company Secretary Nasima Khatun said the company has been out of production for a long time.

"Our directors are trying to enter into joint ventures with other companies to start production," she added.

According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Alpha Tobacco's paid-up capital is Tk2.88 crore. Out of total shares, sponsors and directors hold 35.60%, general investors 52.45%, institutions 8.75% and foreign investors 3.20%.

At the end of 30 June 2022, its earnings per share were Tk2.56 negative and the net asset value per share stood at Tk348.05 negative.

Its shares were last traded on 23 August 2021 at the OTC market of the DSE. On the day, its 63,266 shares were traded at Tk60 each.