NDC to put London Stock Exchange on notice over Agyapa

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice that it will put the London Stock Exchange on notice that the Agyapa Royalties agreement does not qualify to be listed. 

The NDC argues that the deal does not meet the required due diligence and standards of transparency.

Cassiel Ato Forson, Minority spokesman on finance, addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, said: “We are going to put them on notice, we are not petitioning them. We are telling them that this is what we have seen. And going forward, we the Minority wish to emphatically state that this very SPV called Agyapa and its accompanying agreement as approved by a one-sided Parliament will not be respected by the next NDC administration.

“So our position is clear and the letter will follow as soon as we finish this press statement. Our positions are clear. We’ve raised issues on incorporation details, issues referring to [a] conflict-of-interest situation.”

Opposition to deal

He added: “… as we sit here as Parliament of Ghana, we do not have information on how to independently value the company called Agyapa with our precious national asset. We do not know. If this IPO is to go ahead in its present format, don’t be surprised that we are going to get oversubscription.

“The oversubscription that we are going to get is not because the structuring is good but it is also because the government is giving away too much, because the investor is indeed going to benefit so much. If you go out there and ideally we would have had 10%, clearly per this structuring you may end getting maybe 15% coming from it,” Forson said.

The Agyapa Minerals Royalties agreement has come under scrutiny, with some civil society organisations demanding suspension of the deal on grounds of a “lack of transparency”

Fifteen CSOs have called for the Agyapa agreement to be suspended immediately, citing reservations about what they describe as a lack of openness and transparency that has characterised the transaction.

The CSOs say they want the deal to be put on hold until all documentation has been disclosed.

It’s a good deal

The government, however, maintains that there is nothing untoward about the deal. A Ministry of Finance press conference dispelled any disquiet around the terms of the new arrangement for managing Ghana’s royalties from gold mining.

The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the current leadership at the Finance Ministry has superior knowledge of the capital markets and will execute the Agyapa deal in a manner that will deliver value for Ghanaians.

“The skillset that the president has put at the Ministry of Finance is evidenced in how we were able to secure US$2.2 billion when we came and there were no resources to help stabilise the economy,” the minister said.

“I think I have been in the capital market business since 1984 when I finished college, and my deputy Charles Adu Boahen has also been in the capital market business. So it is a point in time that our leadership has the knowledge about,” Ofori-Atta said.

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