Allegations of insider trading have surfaced against Apex Foods Limited, a company listed on the stock market in the country. Recently, there has been a sudden surge in shareholding by the company’s executives, leading to speculation among market participants.

The company claims that the sudden increase in shareholding by more than 17 percent occurred due to the inclusion of the chairman’s wife in the board of directors. The matter has been brought to the attention of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) by the company. However, the DSE states that they have not received any information from the company regarding this issue. Investors are skeptical and uncertain about these developments, and the company’s shareholders are also expressing concerns.

Apex Foods has violated Section 1 of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2015 Law by failing to disclose sensitive information promptly. According to the directive, every listed issuer on the stock exchange must promptly notify the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and the relevant stock exchange (if listed on both exchanges) in writing, signed by the Chairman, CEO, or Company Secretary, along with fax and special message delivery, or courier service if available, within thirty minutes of making any material price-sensitive information available or coming into effect. The information must also be published immediately in two widely circulated daily newspapers (one in Bengali and the other in English) and an online publication to ensure maximum dissemination.

On the other hand, investors have also accused Apex Foods of violating privacy by holding a board meeting on April 20 without informing them. Although there is a provision to inform the investors about the decision of the management board by April 20, the investors still do not know about the matter. In addition, the company’s share price has increased by Tk 141.50 or 46.22% as a percentage since the company’s board meeting.

The owners and directors of Apex Foods have not made any announcement regarding the increase in their shareholding, despite their ownership share in the company increasing. The Dhaka Stock Exchange website did not show any announcement from the company regarding the purchase of shares last month. However, it was suddenly discovered that the owners and directors had acquired a significant number of shares, although there was no explanation given on the DSE website.

When asked about this, the company’s secretary Kamrul Islam stated to the news media Orthosongbad that the owners and directors did not purchase any shares. Therefore, there is no such information available on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. However, the wife of the company’s chairman, Jafar Ahmed, held 17.33% of the shares. She was previously a regular shareholder but was recently included in the board of directors. As a result, her shares are now combined with those of the owners and directors.

He further stated that the matter of appointing the chairman’s wife to the company’s board of directors was communicated to the DSE two or three days ago. Although the information was conveyed to the DSE regarding the inclusion of the chairman’s wife in the board of directors of Apex Foods, it has not been publicized through the trading system by the exchange.

The Managing Director of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, Mr. M. Saifur Rahman Majumdar, stated that the DSE was not informed by the company about the appointment of new directors in Apex Foods. Only the shareholder position is reported to the DSE at the end of each month, and the shareholder position has been updated accordingly. Apex Foods will be blamed as to why the appointment of the new director was not informed to DSE.

According to sources, Apex Foods had a shareholding of 36.06% among the company’s directors and executives until June 30, 2022, as stated on the DSE website. The same amount of shares was also held by the company’s directors and executives in the following year’s March. However, based on the recent information provided to the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Apex Foods website, the company’s directors and executives currently hold 30 lakh 44 thousand 450 shares, which accounts for 53.39% of the total shares. Therefore, there has been an increase of 17.33% in the shareholding of the company’s directors and executives within a month.