Shareholders of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) have given the management of the bank the green light to allow investments from the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) Plc to provide fresh capital to enable the bank to meet the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) minimum capital requirement.
The ADB is one of five banks expected to go for capital from the GAT, which was set up by the government with funding from pension funds.
The shareholders also voted to enable the ADB to transfer GH¢127 million from the GAT as a private placement to meet the BoG’s minimum capital requirement of GH¢400 million.
The move is also to strengthen the capital base of the bank to enable it to undertake increased business activities.
The approval was given yesterday at the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at the British Council Hall, where the shareholders were taken through how the bank fared in 2018 and steps being taken to ensure that it remained viable and vibrant.
At the meeting, the shareholders adopted the annual report, the audited financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2018, as well as the reports of the directors and auditors.
Other authorisations
The shareholders also waived the pre-emptive rights of shareholders in relation to the ordinary shares to be issued to the GAT in relation to the private placement.
This means that they have given the power to the directors of the bank to recalculate the shareholding with the new investors, which will dilute the stake of existing shareholders in the bank.
According to the 2018 annual report of the ADB, 60.5 per cent of the shares were held by the Financial Investment Trust (FIT), 32.3 per cent by the government, five per cent by ESOP, along with other minority shareholders, including staff of the bank.
The shareholders further authorised the directors of the bank, subject to applicable rules, to determine the terms, timing and pricing of the private placement.
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