Why Delta Life AGMs get postponed again

Delta Life Insurance Company, upon Supreme Court order, has again postponed its annual general meetings (AGM) for 2019, 2020 and 2021 which were scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The company through the bourses told shareholders that it would inform the rescheduled date later.

"The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered us to reschedule the AGMs and hold them by 31 December and we are preparing accordingly," Delta Life Company Secretary Uttam Kumar Sadhu told TBS.

The company, coming out of its tussle with the insurance regulator in August last year, is now suffering from the rivalry between two groups of shareholders and that is the reason behind the deferrals in its board meetings for dividends and AGMs.

For instance, the financial statements prepared for the three years were not being adopted in board meetings for months due to the absence of the audit committee chairman. Finally, the Supreme Court appointed senior lawyer Fida M Kamal as the audit committee chairman.

The petitioners complained about the three financial statements set to be placed in the AGMs, citing they were not in light of the special audits by the insurance and securities regulators.

The Appellate Division, disposing of the review petition, appointed Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury as Delta Life's Independent Chairman to preside over the AGMs.

The court also directed the audit committee to prepare the audit in light of the special audits carried out by the two regulators.

The audit committee was also directed for strict adherence to the terms of the court-recognised 2022 compromise among the parties— sponsor family and other shareholders and the insurance regulator.

The obligation to ensure the statutory audit in light with the special audits, might again defer the pending AGMs, fear analysts.

Delta Life shares were stuck at the floor price of Tk136.5 apiece on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Sunday.