With barely nine months to the stated capital deadline for banks, the Energy Commercial Bank could offload up to 50percent of its by May and raise almost GH¢400million on the bourse.
Setting a target of May to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO), the bank, which has a stated capital of only GH¢60million, with not more than GH¢10millon in income surplus and statutory reserve, is in need of at least GH¢340million to meet the Central Bank’s requirements of GH¢400million.
The B&FT understands that leading brokerage firm IC Securities has been contracted as the sponsoring broker for the deal and is currently in the process of drafting an impressive listing prospectus to attract investors to the bank.
The current shareholding structure of the bank shows that subsidiaries of Global Fleet Group, a business conglomerate founded in 2003, hold controlling stake.
The group has interests across a range of sectors in Africa, including oil & gas, petrol stations, media, education, insurance and reinsurance, hospitality, real estate, manufacturing and banking.
Global Fleet Oil & Gas, Nigeria, owns 70percent whiles Global Fleet, UK, and Nicon Insurance from Nigeria own 20percent and 10percent respectively.
Without giving details, the bank’s Board Chairman, Dr. Ibrahim Jimoh, confirmed at a cocktail ceremony last week, that even though the bank is not handicapped in raising the needed funds privately, the board made the decision to offer an opportunity for Ghanaians to own a part of the company.
“We’re going to do an IPO to make Ghanaians own the bank; I’m going to resign my appointment as a board chairman. If you’re going to do IPO and people want to come in then you cannot continue to be the chairman. So, I’m going to drop out. Some of the board members are going to resign their appointments so that new people can come in,” he told the media.
Should the deal sail through, it will bring to eleven the number of banks listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and will offer another option to investors while deepening liquidity on the market.
Even though the bank is in need of quite a substantial amount of capital to meet the new stated minimum capital requirement, Dr. Jimoh is confident its impressive balance will help it meet the deadline via an IPO.
The bank in 2016 generated an interest income of GH¢38.3million, up from GH¢28.4million. this generated into a profit after tax of GH¢600,000. The bank’s total assets increased from GH¢349.4million in 2015 to GH¢364.1million.
