Computer Source's property put up for sale

Union Capital Ltd has put up some property of Computer Source for sale after the country's top computer vendor failed to pay back its loans amounting to Tk 29.47 crore.

The financial institution recently published an advertisement in a newspaper to sell two plots of 8.25 decimal each with duplexes on them in the capital's Khilkhet area.

Interested parties can submit their offer for the property on road number 7 of Pink City Xenovalley by October 2, according to the advertisement.

Computer Source, which has been cutting back on its computer import and distribution business for the last one year, said it is in the process of paying back the sum owed to Union Capital and has already opened talks with the financial institution on the matter.

“We are trying to reschedule our loan. We have faced some challenges in our business in recent times, so we could not pay some instalments according to the schedule,” said Md Shamsul Huda, director of finance and administration of Computer Source.

The company has rescheduled loans with other banks and financial institutions as well, he said.

“Union Capital has also unofficially informed us that they will give us another chance and cancel the planned auction,” Huda added.

However, a senior executive of Union Capital said they have not heard from Computer Source for about a year now.

“We issued the final notice to the company last month and they have not taken it seriously. That is why we have to go for litigation and arrange this auction process to realise our money,” said the official requesting anonymity.

Of the 60 instalments that needed to be paid to Union Capital, Computer Source managed 32, said a top executive of Computer Source, preferring to remain unnamed. And for more than six months now, the company has not made any payment, he added.

Computer Source started its journey in 1993 as a computer accessories import and distribution business and went on to become the top importer in the country.

It has established a diversified business model, with revenue coming from hardware, enterprise solution and software, and has even started selling its own-brand IT products.

Market insiders said Computer Source took loans from different banks and financial institutions and invested the amount to buy land in different parts of Tangail district, from where the company's managing director Abu Hanif MD Mahfuzul Arif hails.

Computer Source also bought land in Dhaka, which is why it could not pay the loan instalments, said a top official of the company.

This correspondent called Arif, also a former president of the Bangladesh Computer Samity, several times but his mobile phone was switched off.

The company had more than 30 branches and service centres nationwide but some of them were shut down in the last one year. Even a good number of employees were let go during the period, said insiders.