Ring Shine Textiles faces auction of factory, plots over unpaid dues

The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) has moved to auction the factory and long-term leasehold plots of Ring Shine Textiles Limited at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ), after the troubled company repeatedly failed to clear its long-standing dues amounting to $18 million.

The auction notice, published in newspapers today (1 December), invites proposals from interested buyers by 6 January 2026, marking a decisive step by the authorities to recover arrears after years of non-payment.

The auction covers the 30-year lease of plots 231–236, on which Ring Shine built and operated one of its main manufacturing facilities.

Bepza cancelled the lease earlier this year over the unpaid rent, following multiple warnings to the company. With the lease termination now in effect and the factory itself falling within the scope of the auction, the regulator is seeking buyers capable of taking over the assets and restoring productive operations on the site.

Ring Shine Textiles, once one of the largest fully-integrated textile manufacturers listed on the bourses, has been grappling with severe operational, financial, and governance crises since shortly after its stock market debut in 2019.

Managing Director Auniruddho Piaal told The Business Standard that the company had intended to repay a portion of Bepza's dues – about Tk10 crore – from its IPO proceeds.

However, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) froze the company's IPO fund in 2020 and subsequently rejected its requests to use a portion of the funds for settling the EPZ dues.

"As a result, we cannot stand on our commitment, leading Bepza to auction our six plots out of fifty," he said.

He added that we are trying to reopen the company which may provide better benefit to our shareholders, but the non-cooperation of the regulator we failed to do that. Now, the company has no legal avenue to retain the land.

Earlier in February, Bepza terminated the lease of six plots due to persistent non-payment.

In July, the BSEC turned down Ring Shine's plea to release $1 million (about Tk12 crore) from the frozen IPO funds to settle part of its dues, stating that the funds could not be used for that purpose.

Ring Shine raised Tk150 crore from the public in 2019 for business expansion, but the company soon became engulfed in a collapse of export orders during the pandemic, liquidity shortages, and a governance scandal that later came to be known as an IPO scam.

The BSEC investigation found that a syndicate involving controversial tax officer Matiur Rahman and FAR Group Chairman Abdul Kader Faruk allegedly siphoned off hundreds of crores of taka by issuing shares without actual investment backing. Indian national Ashok Kumar Chirimar, the company's former supply chain agent, was also implicated in the scheme.

Ring Shine's financial performance has also deteriorated sharply. The company has not paid any dividend since its listing year and has accumulated losses of Tk446 crore from FY21 to FY24.

Its shares are classified under the Z category, reserved for non-performing companies, and closed 2.94% lower at Tk3.30 today.