Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, presidential candidate of the Convention People's Party (CPP), was recently reported to have said during a visit to the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) that he was against the proposed sale of the Bank of Ghana's stake in ADB.

My stomach churned when I heard the news report on the radio. Why, you may ask. I thought it was very unfortunate that such a populist opinion was coming from a fine man like Dr Nduom. Surely, Dr Nduom, given his veteran economic development knowledge and experience, knows better.

ADB is a terminally non-performing business, which no amount of restructuring or re-strategising would turn around, were the state to remain part owner.

The reason is that the agents (managers, directors, etc) do not possess the poise, purpose and drive of non-state economic actors to make ADB competitive and viable.

The bank has consistently underperformed its peers. In fact, the so-called agricultural bank that ADB is supposed to be, has only six per cent of its business in agriculture.

The arguments being advanced against the proposed acquisition are lame and largely sentimental.

Unfortunately, sentimentalism has no good business sense.  The ultimate aim in any economic parley should be optimum productivity other than populist nationalism.

The United Kingdom, thanks to the mostly level-headed economic choices of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, remains a classic rule book of this proposition. 

Two years ago, Spain's infrastructure company, Ferrovial, bought British Airports Authority (BAA), operators of the UK's three biggest airports, namely Stanstead, Gatwick and the Crown Jewel, Heathrow (which is the world's busiest airport with a plane landing every 10 seconds).

The above aviation assets are among the most nationally strategic in the world, yet the British sold them to foreigners with no hesitation, as they deem it wiser to attract the necessary capital to develop their economy than emotionally hold on to lame duck, inefficient and incompetently exploited state assets.

This open-door policy for foreign acquisitions has made the United Kingdom the preferred European destination for private equity and other capital.

The numbers speak for themselves: The UK accounts for more than 60 per cent of total private equity funds operating in Europe, well ahead of the bigger economy of Germany and the sexier France.

This is not accidental; it is occasioned by deliberate policy differentials in Europe.

While France was busy drawing up a list of “strategic industries” (yoghurt is one of them: American PepsiCo was reported to have been scared of French Danone in 2005) as areas off limits to foreign acquirers, and Germany is germane to a zeitgeist and schadenfreude of demonising foreign investors as “locusts”, the UK got to work keeping its gates open to every foreign fella who has money to pour in any area of economic activity on the British Isles.

The resultant testament is that the UK economy is at full throttle with robust growth year in, year out while that of the Eurozone has all but stagnated over the last few years.

The irony though is that while France and Germany ward off foreign acquisitions, French and German companies are swirling around in “strategic industries” in the UK: The state-owned French electricity company, EdF, bought the UK's London Electricity 10 years ago and is now a major player in the UK energy market; the German utility firm, RWE, lapped up the UK's largest water supplier, Thames Water in 2000 (which it later spun off). RWE also owns Npower - one of the big six UK energy suppliers.

Orange, a leading UK mobile phone operator, belongs to France Telecom. The list is endless.

The point is that serious-minded economies avoid the temptation of being vainly nationalistic and protectionist against competitive and harmless foreign takeovers, especially of state-owned assets.

The contemporary economic phenomenon of state capitalism mainly exemplified by China, Russia and the Gulf states has created hundreds of billions of dollars of war-chests known as Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF), which are being splashed on foreign assets largely in Europe and North America. Soon they shall be arriving on our shores too, if they already aren't here.

Being insular to foreign acquisition of state-owned assets is non-productive. It is crucial that regulatory institutions and structures are equipped and strengthened to proactively police and promote the system such as the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission are doing.

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions are a growing and enduring feature of the world economy.  Countries that allow and regulate them effectively enjoy their fruits and bountiful harvests. Ghana cannot afford to miss out, especially with the insidious triumph of populist nationalism looming on the horizon.

Article by Jake Awagah Addison