Court dismisses UNICOF’s suit against ADB’s IPO 

An Accra High Court has dismissed an application praying it to restrain ADB and its agents from proceeding with the sale and marketing of the bank's Initial Public Offer, IPO, shares. 

The suit which was filed by the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers, UNICOF, on behalf of ADB staff, sought the injunction to restrain the bank from going ahead with the sales pending the conclusion of negotiations with the Union. 

UNICOF was also praying the High Court to compel the bank to convene a meeting with it to complete negotiations on the bank’s IPO and the quantum of shares to be offered to staff of the bank. 

According to UNICOF, it was in the process of negotiating the shares due workers of ADB when the bank unilaterally decided to trade off 40 per cent of its shares to foreign investors. 

The court however held that there is no basis why the ADB cannot go ahead with the shares offer as the plaintiffs failed to show in their statement of case, the law which states that the sales cannot go on when there is negotiation between the bank and the union. 

According to UNICOF, the bank’s conduct of proceedings to launch its IPO was in gross disregard to the negotiations between the parties on the subject matter as well as a violation of the plaintiff’s right to negotiate on behalf of its members.

GBC