afb raises GH¢38m in bond offer on GSE
afb Ghana has raised GH¢38 million in bond offer on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). This is after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had given approval for the listing of up to GH¢100 million worth of bonds.
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The company initially offered GH¢30 million worth of bonds to the investing public and raised GH¢38 million, which represents 30 per cent oversubscription.
The issue received long-term ‘investment grade’ rating of ‘BBB’ from Global Credit Rating (GCR) company.
Speaking at the bond offer, the Managing Director of the GSE, Mr Kofi Yamoah, said the increased attempts by companies to raise fresh funds through listing of bonds were an attestation that the Ghanaian capital market had picked up.
He urged the private sector and the Government of Ghana to take advantage of the current interest from investors to tap into the capital markets to finance their projects.
The Director General of SEC, Dr Adu Anane Antwi, observed that the increasing sourcing of capital locally by professional companies like afb Ghana augured well for investors in the country.
The Director of the Financial Sector Division, Ministry of Finance, Mr Joseph Chognuru, reiterated the government’s commitment to providing a favourable macroeconomic environment in Ghana which is conducive for both companies looking for funds and investors whether private or institutional.
“Successful listings like that of afb Ghana’s ensures the deepening of our capital markets.”
The Managing Director of afb Ghana, Mr Arnold Parker, thanked the investing public for showing confidence and faith in the company.
“We thank the investing public for showing tremendous faith and trust in our business strategy and also future growth potential.”
“afb will predominantly use the first tranche of the bond proceeds to pay off debt owed to offshore counterpart.
This debt is very expensive, especially given the weakening of the Ghana cedi and the US dollar over the past two years and the balance will be used to continue expanding the loan portfolio,” he said.
“The successful listing means we can put our exchange risk behind us and confidently continue to grow the business into the future.”
The company aims to help drive a better and brighter future for all Ghanaians and has a robust loans product portfolio that covers Payroll loans, afb Direct loans and Smart Cash loans.
afb Ghana sees this as an opportunity to dive into the next phase of advancement which will set the company to enhance service delivery, fund working capital and also expand into new loan products providing wider choices to all Ghanaians to make their lives better.
