By: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh
It is official that the Government of Ghana, as part of its programme to privatise state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will soon dispose of the multimillion GIHOC Glass Company Limited (GGCL).

To this end, the government is inviting bodies, companies, organisations and individual investors to submit proposals and bids for the acquisition of the juicy glass company.

According to the exclusive privatisation document available to Business Chronicle, purchase and complete registration of interest forms, which cost $300, will be made available to registered investor(s).

Ghana's Divesture Implementation Committee (DIC), acting on behalf of the government, will also permit the investor(s) to visit the GGCL to conduct the required due diligence, and also a sample of a Performance Bond to be procured from the bankers of the investor(s).

On the basis of the investor's own due diligence, each investor will prepare and present to the DIC, in separate sealed envelopes, the following documents: detailed proposals or business plans for the acquisition of the company; investor's financial bid; a Performance Bond (in the prescribed format) to the value of 10% of the financial bid of the investor.

GGCL's assets consist of its well laid out industrial and residential buildings, external works, office/household furniture, equipment, plant and machinery, and include the following:

Land area of 51.21 acres; industrial landed properties including administration, clinic, canteen, laboratory, and amenity blocks; factory building containing a production line and ancillary structures; residential properties; a road network, drains, external plumbing, pipe works from water treatment plant to residencies, external lighting, and other utility services; machine and carpentry shops; and batch compressor houses.

Instructively, the GGCL was established in 1963 by the Government of Ghana, which contracted Messrs Thyssen Stahlunion of Germany to construct the factory.

The factory was commissioned in 1966 for the manufacture of sheet and hollow glassware products, and was between 1966 and 1968 managed by Messrs Knoblauch & Sons of Germany. The Government of Ghana subsequently, took over management of the company, and in 1976, the GGCL plant was rehabilitated and further refurbished in the late 1990s.

The GGCL is one of the two glass manufacturing companies in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region, and is located at Aboso in the Western Region, where the country is exploiting its oil deposits. Its location is also within close proximity of the Tarkwa Huni-Valley railway line.