Court stays IPO of Khulna Printing

The High Court yesterday stayed the initial public offering of Khulna Printing and Packaging Ltd (KPPL). The court also issued a rule as to why the IPO will not be cancelled.
The HC bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar came up with the order and the rule after hearing a writ petition.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Raihanul Mostofa filed the petition challenging the legality of the IPO.
He said in the petition that KPPL provided false information in its IPO prospectus to raise capital.
KPPL got the market regulator's clearance on March 4 this year to raise Tk 40 crore by issuing four crore shares. Subscriptions for the IPO opened on May 4 and ended the next day. Its IPO prospectus said the firm's revenue was Tk 34 crore in fiscal 2009-2010. But, the following year it surged to Tk 119 crore, up by a staggering 247 percent.
Then, between July 2011 and June 2012, the company's sales shot up to Tk 208 crore before dipping somewhat in July 2012-June 2013 to Tk 191 crore. Industry insiders, however, found KPPL's claim as outrageous.