The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has suspended trading in the shares of ADB with effect from today Wednesday, March 07.
A statement from the exchange said, “the suspension is to allow the GSE clarify the news on a purported take-over of ADB”
“With reference to section 7 of the GSE Automated Trading Rules (ATS), the Manging Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), in consultation with the Chairman of the GSE Council has suspended trading in shares of ADB effective March 7, 2018,” the statement said.
It explained that, the investing public would be informed in due course of the outcome of the clarifications.
However, the GSE said it will soon announce to the public when it will give clearance for the resumption of trading in the shares of ADB.
This statement comes, after news broke that, the ADB Bank, have pledged their shares, proceeds, entitlement and voting rights to uniBank, a leading local bank.
According to sources close to the move who spoke to the B&FT, it happened as a consortium, led by Belstar Capital–a turnkey project finance and implementation institution–also includes Starmount Development Company Limited, EDC Investments Limited and SIC-FSL all agreed to pledge their shares, proceeds, entitlement and voting rights to uniBank, a leading local bank.
The shares pledged to uniBank, which totals 51 percent, means uniBank now holds a controlling stake in ADB and with the additional majority voting rights, can now determine the strategic direction of ADB.
Meanwhile despite the pledge of shares and voting rights, this does not constitute an outright sale, and therefore does not contravene any rules and regulations of industry regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
ADB has been on a path of recovery for the past two years since it went public. After recording losses of GH¢78million and GH¢70million in 2015 and 2016 respectively, ADB posted a healthy and very impressive after tax profit of GH¢50million for its third quarter 2017 results.
