GOIL Shares Oversubscribed

Institutional investors seem to have acquired almost all the shares of Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), as information reaching CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE indicates that GOIL shares have been oversubscribed.
CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE gathers that ECOBANK Ghana last week bought shares worth ¢100 billion in the oil company and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the largest institutional investor in almost all the listed equities on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) was preparing to buy about half of the shares.
An official of Gold Coast Securities Limited, one of the selling brokerage firms told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE that more than half of the 25 insurance companies have bought or are planning to acquire the shares.
The oversubscription of GOIL’s IPO means government will issue an additional 14 per cent of its shares, the official stated.
Further checks by CITY&BUSINESS GUIDE at the other brokerage firms including Strategic African Securities Limited and DATABANK and some branches of Merchant Bank have also revealed that GOIL’s Initial Public Offer (IPO) has been hugely bought. Trading of the shares elapsed on Friday October 5, 2007.
Originally, only 30 per cent of the company’s shares were to be floated on the GSE as government was to retain about 35 per cent. However, the recent development means it will definitely issue additional shares.
GOIL is considered by most analysts and market watchers as a potential asset, with the company playing a leading role in the oil marketing industry.
They have predicted a virtual scramble for the offer on the basis of the company’s steady performance, its ongoing rigorous operational transformations and the general anticipation of a buoyant future for Ghana’s oil industry.
Importantly, GOIL’s balance sheet for the last financial year also makes it an attractive commodity. Its financial result for 2006 showed that the company registered an impressive net turnover growth of 39.2 per cent, making ¢1.92 trillion as against ¢1.38trillion recorded for 2005.
It enjoys a current average market share of about 18 per cent, dominating the lubricant and LPG trade and is a major player in the general retail business.
About 89,115,187 ordinary shares are being offered to the general public at ¢2,000 (GH¢ 0.2) per share. A minimum number of 300 ordinary shares amounting to ¢600,000 could be purchased.
After the successful completion of the IPO, the listing of the shares will follow suit, making the company the second oil marketing company after Total Petroleum Company, which was born out of a merger between Total Ghana Limited and the former Mobil Oil Ghana Limited.

Ghana Business & Finance of Thursday, 4 October 2007 - GOIL Shares Oversubscribed