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and accounts within six months of the end of its financial year.

Under Rule 41, where securities remain suspended from trading for a continuous period of six months, the London Stock Exchange will generally cancel their admission to trading unless the underlying issues are resolved.

As the six-month period approaches, concerns have grown among investors that the suspension could ultimately result in delisting from AIM if compliance is not restored.

Cancellation of admission means the securities would no longer trade on AIM, although shareholders would continue to retain ownership of their holdings.

Any future return to the market would generally require a fresh admission process and compliance with listing requirements.

Against this backdrop, six institutional investors holding Beximco Pharmaceuticals’ London-listed securities wrote to the chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), urging steps to enable the company’s board to approve the outstanding financial statements.

“Cancellation would leave us holding an unlisted, orphan security, something our fund structures are not set up to do and which would present extremely serious risks to our investment. Even the current scenario of a temporarily suspended listing is causing significant challenges for our entities,” the investors said in the letter.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals currently represents Bangladesh’s only international equity listing through GDRs.

Maintaining continuity of the listing is important not only for existing shareholders but also for preserving the visibility of Bangladesh’s capital market among international portfolio investors, the investors said.

“It is our understanding that the underlying business remains fully operational and that the reporting delay is administrative, resulting from the ongoing legal dispute regarding the BSEC’s proposed appointment of independent non-executive directors.”

According to the letter, because the matter remains sub judice, a legally uncontested board meeting to approve the financial statements has not yet been convened.

Mohammad Asad Ullah, company secretary of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, declined to comment, saying only: “A writ petition was filed, so it is a sub judice matter.”

The BSEC appointed nine independent directors to Beximco Pharmaceuticals in 2024 following a directive from the finance ministry.

Soon after the appointments, the company filed a writ petition challenging the decision. Since then, the board has not met to approve or discuss financial results and the company has not published quarterly performance reports or annual financial statements.

“While we respect the BSEC’s regulatory oversight and the ongoing judicial process, the current situation inadvertently penalises international minority shareholders who are independent of this governance dispute,” the investors said.

They requested that the BSEC consider granting special dispensation or facilitate a temporary mechanism allowing Beximco Pharmaceuticals to convene a limited, special-purpose board meeting.

According to the letter, the sole agenda would be to review, approve and authorise publication of the outstanding financial statements so the company could meet LSE reporting requirements and seek reinstatement of trading in London.

The proposed arrangement, the investors said, would be granted strictly “without prejudice” to the ongoing High Court proceedings.

Approving the accounts would not amount to accepting either side’s position regarding the final composition of the board; rather, it would serve as an interim step to meet statutory reporting obligations and protect shareholder interests, the letter added.

Md Abul Kalam, spokesperson for the BSEC, said the commission was examining the matter in view of Bangladesh’s international image and the concerns raised by foreign investors.

He said the regulator is assessing how prepared the company actually is: whether it has prepared its financial statements and whether those accounts have already been audited.

Since litigation over the board remains pending, that issue will also be considered before the regulator decides on any next steps, although the company itself would need to apply for any regulatory accommodation, Kalam said.

He added that as a board has already been appointed for the company, it may be able to approve the financial reports on its own if it chooses, potentially making regulatory intervention unnecessary.

“However, because Beximco Pharmaceuticals is currently the only Bangladeshi company listed on AIM, BSEC is reviewing the matter carefully to safeguard the country’s reputation and market image,” he added.

Each GDR of Beximco Pharmaceuticals last traded at £42.50 on January 2, 2026. The company’s GDR programme was originally launched on September 19, 2006.