Dr. John Kofi Mensah, ADB MD
SHAREHOLDERS OF Agriculture
Development Bank (ADB) have given their approval for the directors of the bank
to undertake a private placement of ordinary shares of the company with Ghana
Amalgamated Trust (GAT) Plc for the consideration of GH¢127 million.
The move is to
enable ADB increase its stated capital in order to meet the Bank of Ghana’s new
minimum capital requirement of GH¢4000,000,000, subject to the applicable
regulatory approvals.
The shareholders
also authorized the directors of the bank, subject to applicable rules, to
determine the terms, timing and pricing of the private placement.
Speaking at the Bank’s
Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra, Alex Bernasko, Chairman of ADB Board,
said the bank recorded a profit-before-tax of GH¢34.0 million in 2018,
registering a dip from GH¢47.0 million achieved in 2017.
Currently, the
bank’s paid-up capital stands at GH¢258 million.
This was after it
applied its negative income surplus of GH¢294.1 million losses to its initial
amount of GH¢552.1 million, hence the private placement.
“Now that the
shareholders have given the go-ahead for the authorization of GH¢127 million
from GAT, we have appointed transaction advisors and we are liaising with them
so that we can carve out the best terms and conditions for ADB,” he told
journalists.
Mr. Bernasko was
optimistic that their advisors would get them a good agreement with GAT. He
lamented the huge non-performing loans (NPLs) of the bank some of which he said
were in court for recovery.
“If we get at
least 50 per cent recovery, we will be able to capitalize without hanging on
GAT for so long,” he said.
He expressed the hope
that the strategies put in place had set the foundations for better performance,
going forward.
“Apart from the growth in our shareholders’ funds from GH¢479 million in 2017 to GH¢639.7 million in 2018 due mainly to injection of new funding all the major indices remained flat. All other indices did not change significantly because of a deliberate policy to go slow and clean the bank’s balance sheet of historical toxic assets,” he added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
