By Kofi Ahovi
The Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Adu Anane-Antwi, has added his voice to calls that the government should request foreign companies that wish to set up in Ghana to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange after some years of operation.
Speaking to BusinessWeek, after an interaction with the Institute of Financial and Economy Journalists (IFEJ), he said the government must institute a law that will enforce foreign companies to trade their shares on the Ghanaian capital market.
“We should allow them in to do business for at least five years and thereon a policy should compel them to offload part of their shares on the exchange to enable Ghanaians to own part of the company while bringing more vibrancy to the exchange,” he said.
He added that “This way, the supply side of the market will see a marked improvement to offer greater variety of safe and reasonable returns to investors,”
There have been several calls on government and policy makers by economists and stakeholders of the capital market including Frank Adu Junior, Chairman of the Council of GSE, to get policy makers to compel companies operating in the mining, oil and gas, telecommunication, banking, insurance and cocoa buying and processing to list at least 25 % of their entities on the exchange.
Many international co-operations have been operating in Ghana for several years without any attempt to list on the exchange. Anane-Antwi described the practice as unfortunate and urged the government to take steps to reverse the trend.
Anane-Antwi also called on the government to offload some of its holdings in state-owned institutions as well as its majority holdings in some of the already listed equities on the bourse.
“The government should release some of its shares in companies in which it holds either 100% stake or have majority shares on the GSE to increase liquidity on the market,” he said.
There are some state-owned companies which are in need of funds to expand but are yet to take advantage of the opportunities available at the capital market and these include the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, New Times Corporation, Ghana News Agency and Gihoc Distilleries, among others.
According to him, such a move will not only pave the way for Ghanaians to own a part of those institutions but also increase activity on the market.
The Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Adu Anane-Antwi, has added his voice to calls that the government should request foreign companies that wish to set up in Ghana to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange after some years of operation.
Speaking to BusinessWeek, after an interaction with the Institute of Financial and Economy Journalists (IFEJ), he said the government must institute a law that will enforce foreign companies to trade their shares on the Ghanaian capital market.
“We should allow them in to do business for at least five years and thereon a policy should compel them to offload part of their shares on the exchange to enable Ghanaians to own part of the company while bringing more vibrancy to the exchange,” he said.
He added that “This way, the supply side of the market will see a marked improvement to offer greater variety of safe and reasonable returns to investors,”
There have been several calls on government and policy makers by economists and stakeholders of the capital market including Frank Adu Junior, Chairman of the Council of GSE, to get policy makers to compel companies operating in the mining, oil and gas, telecommunication, banking, insurance and cocoa buying and processing to list at least 25 % of their entities on the exchange.
Many international co-operations have been operating in Ghana for several years without any attempt to list on the exchange. Anane-Antwi described the practice as unfortunate and urged the government to take steps to reverse the trend.
Anane-Antwi also called on the government to offload some of its holdings in state-owned institutions as well as its majority holdings in some of the already listed equities on the bourse.
“The government should release some of its shares in companies in which it holds either 100% stake or have majority shares on the GSE to increase liquidity on the market,” he said.
There are some state-owned companies which are in need of funds to expand but are yet to take advantage of the opportunities available at the capital market and these include the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, New Times Corporation, Ghana News Agency and Gihoc Distilleries, among others.
According to him, such a move will not only pave the way for Ghanaians to own a part of those institutions but also increase activity on the market.
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