TOP WITHDRAWS PUBLIC SHARE OFFER

Accra, Jan 29, Gold Coast Securities Limited (GCSL), sponsoring brokers for Top Industries Limited's public share offer, today announced the withdrawal of the offer. In a statement, Mr K. Owusu Boakye, Managing Director of GCSL, cited the inability of the company to meet the total minimum subscription of one billion cedis as stated in its prospectus, as the main reason for the withdrawal. The offer also failed to meet the minimum condition for listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The statement said the total subscription for the offer stood at 680 million cedis with a total of 3,194 applications. "The under subscription was largely due to lack of Ghanaian institutional investors' interest. In addition, many individual investors indicated their preference for investing in government securities than in stocks," it said. The statement, however, assured all applicants that steps were being taken to refund their deposits.