Majority shareholder of HFC bank, Republic bank has denied it breached the Security and Exchange Commission’s Code on Takeovers & Mergers during its mandatory takeover of HFC bank.
[contextly_sidebar id=”5gqyIUcI4TmOF8fyNmbFVLv9ubofzExv”]According to the bank’s head of Africa operations Robert Le Hunte ‘we continue to hold the view that we did not breach any regulation and a such we have not accepted any liability regarding that’.
The bank was directed to pay one million cedis by the Securities and Exchange Commission as settlement for breaching the takeover code after clearing it on allegations of insider trading.
Allegations of a breach of the takeover code as well as insider trading against Republic bank surfaced last year during Republic bank’s acquisition of HFC shares held by the Union Bank of Nigeria.
HFC Bank had on May 23, 2014 sued the Republic Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission for what it alleged were breaches of the SEC Code on Takeovers & Mergers in Republic Bank’s attempt to do a mandatory takeover of HFC Bank by purchasing of HFC shares held by the Union Bank of Nigeria.
However HFC Bank was ordered by the Supreme Court presided over by Justice Atuguba to present their accusation of insider trading by Republic Bank to SEC for investigation.
A number of shareholders of HFC bank also called on SEC to investigate the matter.
According to SEC investigations into the matter revealed that Republic bank breached Rules 4.1, 4.2 (a) and 4.3 of the Takeover Code by not reverting to the Commission for approval, but relying on the approval of the Bank of Ghana for the purchase of additional 23,638,340 share of HFC Bank from Union Bank within a 12-month period, when the Mandatory Takeover Offer Rule had been triggered and the Commission had not granted them exemption.
But Republic bank’s head of Africa operations Robert Le Hunte reacting to the ruling said the bank disagrees with the ruling.
‘Based on all the communication that were prevailing at the time and when you look at the situation at the time and the rules then yes we are not accepting liability for any breach but we feel this matter has been long outstanding it’s been going on for a year we feel it must come to an end.
at this time we are in discussion with our legal team on how we can facilitate payment’.
By: Vivian Kai Lokko/citifmonline.com/Ghana