ICB seeks to avert Beximco sukuk default as Tk2,800 crore repayment nears

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ICB averts Beximco sukuk default

Highlights

Beximco faces a Tk2,800 crore sukuk repayment due 23 December, with trustee ICB exploring restructuring, refinancing, and investor proposals as default looms.
Periodic yield payments continue, supported by Tk2,000 crore revenue from Teesta Solar since 2023, and Tk1,500 crore in interest already paid to sukuk investors.
ICB's requested six-year extension is pending regulatory approval; investors Revival Global and Adsum Capital expressed interest, but Beximco opposes asset sales to Adsum.

Repayment deadline tightens restructuring options

As first reported by The Business Standard, the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, acting as trustee for Beximco's Green Sukuk, is weighing restructuring, refinancing and investor proposals as the five-year instrument approaches maturity next month without a clear path to full repayment.

Beximco raised Tk3,000 crore through the Shariah-compliant green sukuk in 2021, with about Tk200 crore later converted into Beximco Ltd shares, leaving Tk2,800 crore outstanding. That remaining balance is due to sukuk holders by 23 December, but ICB cannot formally start recovery steps, including liquidation of pledged assets, unless Beximco is declared in default.

The complication for the trustee is that periodic yield payments are still being made from cash flows generated by the Teesta Solar project. Since starting operations in 2023, the plant has generated around Tk2,000 crore in revenue from power sales to the government and has paid roughly Tk1,500 crore in interest to investors.

Minutes from a 11 October meeting of the special purpose vehicle's governing board show the trustee is focusing on three priorities, evaluating proposals from strategic investors, exploring asset sales and refinancing, and amending documents to enable restructuring while addressing legal constraints. In June, ICB also applied to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for a six-year extension of the sukuk on the recommendation of a high-level Bangladesh Bank committee, but the regulator has not yet approved the request and has asked for a formal no-objection certificate from the central bank committee.

Two outside investors have shown interest. Revival Global said in October that it wants to invest in the sukuk structure to ease liquidity pressure, support the Teesta and Korotoa solar projects and participate in any restructuring backed by sukuk assets and future receivables. Earlier, UAE-based Adsum Capital approached ICB over potential investment and acquisition opportunities linked to Beximco Group, especially Teesta Solar, but an in-person meeting produced no concrete outcome.

Beximco has opposed Adsum's proposal to acquire Teesta Solar, arguing that talks or a non-disclosure agreement could damage the originator's interests and disrupt the existing sukuk structure. In a letter signed by Group Managing Director Osman Kaiser Chowdhury, the company urged ICB not to engage with Adsum while extension and restructuring efforts remain under review.

Earlier, we reported that Hainan Rubber proposed subordinated perpetual sustainable securities via Halcyon Agri to refinance offshore debt with coupon deferral features.

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