Coys Snatch SIC Shares

Institutional investors seem to have acquired almost all the 97,822,500 shares that the State Insurance Company (SIC) is offloading on the capital market, CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE can confirm.

According to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE's monitoring at the various stock brokerage firms including Gold Coast Securities Limited and Ecobank Stock Brokers, SIC's Initial Public Offer (IPO) is on the verge of being oversubscribed.

It is believed the Social Security and the National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), which is the largest shareholder in most of the listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange, has acquired some substantial shares in SIC, which financial analysts described as having the potential to grow rapidly when it is listed in January.

Some insurance companies and banks have also bought sizeable shares in SIC, according to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE checks.

The indication means SIC is reciprocating the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), whose shares were 100 per cent oversubscribed.

Though SIC's IPO coincided with the Golden Star Resources, a Canadian-American company operating in Ghana, its strategy to venture into markets in the sub-region has attracted investors to purchase some of the shares.

Regarded as the largest insurance company, SIC underwrites numerous business portfolios such as life insurance, non-life insurance including motor insurance, marine and aviation insurance as well as fire insurance.

SIC is seeking to raise about ¢250 billion from a minimum of 200 shares at a price of Gp30 from its general business portfolio.
The IPO is expected to end tomorrow, December 21, 2007.

In the event of oversubscription, government would issue additional shares of 10 per cent in the company.

Meanwhile, the company intends listing its life business portfolio after successfully choosing a strategic investor by April next year to own between 30 to 35 per cent in the SIC Life.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah