Republic Bank Limited (RBL) says it has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to its Offer Document to HFC Bank.

A statement issued to the GNA said RBL has today, in keeping with the offer process, officially served its Offer Document on HFC Bank, making its long outstanding mandatory offer to all shareholders of HFC Bank.

“The share price offered by RBL is GH¢1.60 per share payable in cash. This represents a premium of 18% above the average price of HFC Bank shares for the year to date and 20% above the Friday March 20, 2015 closing price. RBL Auditors, Ernst and Young, have confirmed that RBL has available resources to satisfy full acceptance of the offer” it stated.

The RBL said the offer is subject at all times to the provisions of the Takeover Code and the Listing Rules of the Ghana Stock Exchange and assured that it will continue to follow the process as specified by the Takeover Code which places responsibility on HFC Bank to execute a number of actions. These include a requirement that it circulates the Offer Document to all shareholders within fifteen (15) days from the date of receipt by it of the Offer Document.

Robert Le Hunte, Director of African Operations for RBL, commenting on the approval said "I am extremely happy that we have arrived at this stage of the MTO process whereby shareholders who are the owners of HFC Bank will finally be able to make a decision on their shareholdings. This is indeed a momentous occasion for the Ghana capital market."

“Our key focus is to work with our partners, shareholders and management and staff of HFC Bank to add value to the operations of HFC and contribute to economic growth and development in Ghana. We remain committed to achieving our objective”, Mr Le Hunte concluded.

Republic Bank Limited is an independent commercial bank in the English-speaking Caribbean, serving retail-banking customers, corporate clients and governments throughout the region for 176 years. It has considerable experience in retail banking particularly in the area of mortgages and credit cards as well as extensive knowledge of financing of the oil and gas sectors in Trinidad and Tobago.