Data Bank

The investment and brokerage company Databank has withdrawn as financial advisers from the contentious Agyapa contract.

The two transaction advisors for the deal that produced so many conversations were Databank and Imara Holding Limited.

Via the Agyapa Gold Royalties Company’s dual listing on the Ghana and London Stock Exchanges, the transaction was intended to monetize Ghana’s gold royalties.

Databank announced its intention to pull out of the contract in a letter to Imara Holdings on February 10, 2021.

In the letter, they clarified that following attacks on its image by political actors due to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-affiliation Atta’s with Databank, a company he co-founded, they arrived at this decision.

These attacks have risen during the 2020 election season, the investment and brokerage firm said.

During the political season leading up to the general elections of December 2020, the Databank Board of Directors has observed with deep concern persistent attempts by some political actors to tarnish our hard-won credibility painstakingly built over the last 30 years by unfairly exploiting our presence and participation in the transaction as one of the transaction advisors. We assume this is largely due to the affiliation of the Minister of Finance with Databank as its co-founder.

Though convinced of the immeasurable benefits to be reaped by the Republic of Ghana from the transaction, the Board of Databank is of the opinion that the tumult created by Databank’s participation in the transaction, coupled with insinuations and aspersions levied on the company’s credibility in the run-up to the election, does not only seriously compromise the ability to carry out such a transaction.

Although the company noted that the action was a tough decision to make, it claimed that it had to do so in order to protect its hard-won reputation.

“It is this deep market knowledge and extensive experience that makes us understand that, despite our sterling record over the years, the potential damage from the fall out of all the negative press about Databank’s involvement in the Agyapa transaction, particularly the proposed IPO, is incalculable on both the domestic and international financial markets.”

“The above reasons have forced us to make a difficult decision to formally withdraw our services as your partner and co-transaction consultant on this mandate.”

It can be noted that the government then formed Agyapa Royalties Limited to securitize Ghana’s gold royalties through the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF).

This was after Parliament approved the Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited agreement with the Ghanaian government on August 14, despite the minority’s walkout.

In return, the company plans to raise between $500 million and $750 million to invest in construction ventures on the Ghana and London stock exchanges.

Since then, the decision has been strongly criticised as the government has ordered the suspension of further discussions on it.

Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu then did a risk assessment of the transaction and raised red flags about the deal in a 64-page paper.

He took a dig at Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta and insisted that many protocols had been flouted prior to the approval of the parliament.

President Akufo-Addo then ordered the Ministry of Finance to forward the agreement back for review to Parliament.