B Mirror Desk: Due to unpaid rent, the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has announced the second round of auctions for Familytex (BD) Limited’s Yarbazar factory, buildings, machinery, and equipment.  It had already called for proposals by August 6 in December of last year after the first round had no response. Priority will be given to those who intend to keep the factory operating, according to the notification.

Familytex had signed a 30-year plot lease in the Chittagong EPZ, with the agreement expiring in 2034. But when it didn’t pay the rent, BEPZA terminated the contract. In order to collect past-due loans, Al-Arafah Islami Bank had earlier in the year declared that it would auction off Familytex’s mortgaged property.

In 2013, Familytex, which began operations in 2003, raised Tk 34 crore through an initial public offering. However, from the fiscal year 2016–17, the business has been losing money consistently. Since December 2020, they have not released any financial reports.
In 2021, the BSEC discovered that Familytex had closed its office and manufacturing. The board was then reorganized by the BSEC, but the independent directors were unable to assume control because of the sponsor shareholders’ lack of cooperation and eventually quit. Just 4% of the shares are owned by the sponsors and directors, far less than what the regulating body requires.

The directors of the company have been selling shares without disclosing them since 2015, according to the BSEC inquiry. Their shareholding percentage decreased from 45.16 percent in 2015 to 4.02 percent in 2019. Mohammad Morshed, the managing director of the company, is now evading capture overseas and is accused of share scamming and loan default.