Could Beximco Group soon be stripped for parts?

A consortium of foreign investors has submitted an “expression of interest” to purchase four of the Bangladesh-based multinational conglomerate’s subsidiaries, including its sizeable textiles and ready-made garment manufacturing division.

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Dragged by debt and with one of its co-founders behind bars on charges of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering and murder, Beximco Group has been contesting a High Court order that its assets be placed under receivership since September. The judiciary has also ordered the central bank to recover the unpaid loans that Salman Fazlur Rahman, the company’s vice chairman and a former industry adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, took out from different banks.

But Adsum Capital Management, a Dubai-based financial firm, has identified Beximco Group’s pharmaceuticals, solar, communications and garment arms as worth saving. In a letter to finance and commerce adviser Salehuddin Ahmed this month, Adsum CEO Anwar Ali Khan put forth the interest of his clients in “looking at acquiring assets of particular companies that you and your government may be considering selling or restructuring.”

“Should this align with your government’s strategy, we would be grateful to you and your office if you could initiate a dialogue with the government of Bangladesh to acquire the shares of Beximco Group…companies on terms and conditions mutually agreed upon,” Khan wrote, adding that any interest would be subject to the usual due diligence and valuation process and that the companies must be sold as going concerns rather than the subject of legal disputes.

Earlier this month, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division declined to overturn the High Court’s order to place Beximco Group under receivership following a petition from Beximco Pharmaceuticals. A hearing in front of the division’s full bench of the Appellate Division, however, has been scheduled for Oct. 28.

Founded in the 1970s, Beximco Group, Bangladesh’s largest private-sector company, is a sprawling enterprise that operates one of Asia’s largest integrated textile production businesses. Bextex, its textiles and apparel division, can churn out 100,000 yards of finished fabric per day from its state-of-the-art composite knit fabric production mill, according to its website, which lists Target, Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp. and Zara among its clients. It also claims to be the first manufacturer to introduce denim to Bangladesh, producing millions of yards of the material every month. Shares of Bextex are listed on the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges.

A garment factory belonging to Beximco Group was among the buildings torched by protestors in Gazipur in September following Hasina’s resignation and flight from Bangladesh, reportedly due to Rahman’s links with the overthrown Awami League.