adb, UniBank Saga: Misreported Takeover ‘Trivial'

The saga over the purported takeover adb by uniBank is overblown and ultimately inconsequential, Financial Analyst Sidney Casely Hayford has said.

“It is a trivial story. There is nothing in this. It has become a story in the media because the reporter who heard the story from wherever or whoever leaked the story to him didn't quite understand what was happening,” he remarked on The Big Issue.

On Wednesday, the banking sector woke up to reports that uniBank had taken over adb after four shareholders of the development bank; comprising Belstar Capital, Starmount Development company, EDC and SIC Financial Services Limited, pledged their shares, proceeds, entitlements and voting rights to uniBank.

The Chief Executive Officer of uniBank, Dr. Kwabena Duffour Jr. later told Citi News that uniBank had control over adb and that the move was in the best interest of the banking industry.

This was however followed by a u-turn from uniBank, after adb was suspended by the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Bank of Ghana announced that it had not approved a purported takeover.

adb also came out to deny media reports that uniBank had taken over its operations.

Mr. Casely Hayford was of the view that the genesis of this saga was engineered by the uniBank CEO and that he should accept blame for the matter being blown out of proportion.

“I blame Kwabena Duffuor Jr for putting such a story out because it is very amateurish and it is totally frivolous. I think he is in too much haste. This could have easily been a business discussion that has gone but he has hastily gone out into the public and gone and made a statement and this has now created all this confusion.”

He maintained that “from day one, this whole thing is a non-story and that is what we have to be very clear about.”

Storm in a teacup
Also on The Big Issue, another Financial Analyst Toma Imirhe said any potential takeover of adb by uniBank will not happen.

Toma Imihere
This is because there is no chance it can get a controlling interest, according to him.

“This thing is a storm in a teacup and the reason why is simple. This thing will not go any further. Unibank has no business buying any shares of adb if it cannot get a controlling interest of 51 percent, which it now knows it cannot get. So this issue is dead.”