The current seemingly unrest in and around the Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club (AHOSC) has resurrected the issue regarding the ownership structure of the club.
Major stakeholders of the club have bemoaned how the controlling powers of the club have centered around few people who, according to them, are mismanaging the affairs of the club. I have therefore decided to put across information to help the discourse as to how the club got to where it is now.
1.Hearts of oak has 100,000,000 ordinary shares at no par value.
2.In 2011, AHOSC floated 20,000,000 shares as Initial Public Offer (IPO) out of the 100,000,000 ordinary shares.
3.For IPO to be successful 25% of the shares thus 5,000,000 ordinary shares need to be subscribed.
4.The initial share price was GHS 0.50 but could be bought in lots of 100. Meaning the least u could buy is GHS50.
5.AHOSC raised an amount of GHS 2,554,726 from the IPO which is made of 5,109,452 ordinary shares.
6.Out of these shares floated Strategic Africa Securities (SAS) holds the majority which is 39.09% followed by Strategic Initiative Limited (SAL) 29.42%. These two companies combined their interest to get 68.51% to give them the majority hence the controlling interest in the club. Togbe Afede XIV controls these two companies and therefore has the controlling interest in AHO.
7.Ordinarily, having shares of more than 20% but less than 50% gives the holder Significant Influence. This is the power to participate in the operating and financial policy decisions of the entity; it is not controlled over those policies. An example is having a board of directors representation.
8.Togbe Afede XIV is the majority shareholder of AHOSC with controlling interest by virtue of his control over the two companies thus SAS and SAL. AHOSC is consolidated by either Strategic Africa Securities (SAS) or Strategic Initiative Limited depending on the agreement between the two companies.
9.Togbe Afede XIV is the majority shareholder with controlling interest but cannot, respectively, said to be the owner of AHOSC because there are many shareholders and every shareholder is an owner of AHOSC. The fact one owns a large slice of a pie doesn’t mean he owns all the pie.
BY Owuraku Nsiah CA
