Emerald Oil’s major shareholder to sell 10 lakh shares

Minori Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Japanese farming company Minori Co Ltd, has decided to sell 10 lakh shares of Emerald Oil at the prevailing market price after holding the shares for three years.

Emerald Oil, which sells edible oil under the brand name of Spondon, disclosed the information through a posting on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) today.

Emerald Oil remained non-operational for around five years until 2021 when Minori came to the rescue and purchased 3.62 crore or over 38 percent shares of the oil producer.

Now, Minori will lend the sale proceeds back to Emerald, said a top official of the company, seeking anonymity, as the corporate shareholder did not disclose the reason of selling shares.

It will be an interest-free loan so that Emerald can repay its bank loans, the official said.

Emerald's finance cost will decrease in the upcoming years once the bank loans are repaid, the official added.

"However, Emerald will not issue any share to Minori against the loans."

Minori Bangladesh has already got go-ahead from the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission to sell in phases a total of 46 lakh shares, or over 7 percent of its total shareholding.

Shares of Emerald Oil dropped 3.83 percent from the previous day to hit Tk 70 at the DSE today.