Hearts of Oak to float new shares - report

Former Premier League champions Hearts of Oak Sporting Club is set to float shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange just two years after an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of shares. This came to light during the club’s Annual General Meeting held on Friday at the National Theatre in Accra, with the flotation set to take place at the end of the coming season.

The Annual General Meeting, which was chaired by the club’s Board Chairman Togbe Afede XIV, saw existing shareholders and Board members deliberating on the way forward for the club and whether it will be feasible to float new shares.

Speaking to footy-ghana.com in an exclusive interview, Togbe Afede XIV says the funds that will be raised from the flotation of new shares will be earmarked for infrastructural development and enhanced liquidity, stressing the need to make the club more attractive to attract many more shareholders.

“You know we wanted to raise GH¢10million initially but we were unable to do so and we raised just GH¢2.5million. We have to make it attractive and that has been the challenge.  Many people were not aware and thought it will not be attractive enough but now they know better. We want to enhance the club’s liquidity and infrastructure because since the club was born in 1911, we cannot boast of something like a stadium and any other huge assets, so that is what we intend to use the money for.”

The club, according to the Board of Directors, is expecting an estimated GH¢10million when the shares are floated before the end of this year.

The former CAF Champions winners went into the history books as the first football club in Africa to float shares in 2011 during the Commodore Mensah-led administration.