MI Cement segregates shipping business

MI Cement, one of the listed cement manufacturers, formed three subsidiaries to run its three mother shipping vessels smoothly and to safeguard its core business.

The three separate subsidiaries for three vessels were formed to avoid legal complexities in case of any incidents with the ships, a top official of MI Cement told The Daily Star yesterday.

When any vessel gets into any legal dispute its sister vessels also face problems in running their operations, he added.

The three subsidiary companies -- Ocean Voyager Shipping Lines, Ocean Victory Shipping Lines and Ocean Vision Shipping Lines -- are fully owned by the cement maker and valued at Tk 56.85 crore, Tk 38.46 and Tk 70.61 crore respectively.

The cement maker yesterday informed stock investors through the Dhaka Stock Exchange that it has approved the transfer of the three mother vessels to its three fully-owned subsidiaries.

The company’s core business is cement production and sales, whereas shipping is a specialised business and it requires separate knowledge and skills that are quite different from the current business.

So, a separate company will ensure transparency, accountability and responsibility to the related officials with separate financials. It will also ensure that operating and financial performances are gauged separately with separate key performance indicators.