A consortium of financial institutions that control majority shares in agric-focused bank,
The consortium, led by Belstar Capital–a turnkey project finance and implementation institution, also includes Starmount Development Company Limited, EDC Investments Limited and SIC-FSL.
Belstar Capital, an investment and project finance institution has started a move to purchase a significant number of shares at uniBank as a means to make the bank qualify the new minimum capital policies as stipulated by the Bank of Ghana.
These institutions took up a substantial stake in ADB’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2016 that paved the way for the bank to go public.
READ MORE: Parliament to summon adb
According to reports by B&FT, 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.
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).
In December 2017, Belstar Capital was working to sell its shares in the bank to ADB.
This is subject to securing regulatory approval from the Central Bank and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
READ ALSO: NIB and ADB to merge?
An agreement between Belstar and Unibank in principle has been reached to carry out the transaction; that is pulling out its investments in ADB.
The move is believed to form part of the investment and project finance institution’s effort at raising the estimated GH¢600 million to secure its new shares at Unibank.
Several financial experts suggest the company is being threatened by the latest decision of the government to merge the ADB where Belstar Capital has a substantial number of shares with NIB to form what will now be called the National Development Bank hence has decided to sell its shares.
According to the management of Belstar Capital, the company has decided to sell its interest at ADB solely to the government of Ghana however if the government does not show interest in the deal they will be willing to sell it to other investors or bidders that may be interested.