Metro Mass considers STC takeover

The Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) is considering the acquisition of a majority stake in the ailing Intercity STC Coaches Limited as part of its ambitious five-year strategic plan for the period 2014-2019.

“As part of our five-year strategic plan, we are looking at that possibility of acquiring SSNIT’s 80 percent stake in STC,” Mr. Noble J. Appiah, Managing Director of MMT, told the B&FT.

He was speaking to the B&FT on the sidelines of the official inauguration of the reconstituted Board of the Company in Accra.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) holds an 80 percent stake in STC with government as a minority shareholder -- 20 percent. Government has given the green-light for SSNIT to select a suitable investor for the transport company. However, government will still retain 20 percent due to the strategic importance of the company to the country’s transport sector.

Three companies -- Suvini, Tannik Group and J.A Plant Pool -- have all expressed interest in acquiring SSNIT’s stake in STC.

It is understood that global accounting firms KPMG and PwC have valued the company and provided advisory services respectively to inform the SSNIT in its selection of a new investor for the company, which is valued at about GH¢87million.

The nine-member reconstituted board of the MMT has Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III, the Mamfehene and Kyidomhene of Akuapem, as its chairman.

The Minister of Transport, Mrs. Dzifa-Attivor, speaking at the inauguration urged the board to ensure that the MMT remains focused on its principal mandate of providing intra-city services to help reduce congestion on the roads as a result of the presence of low capacity vehicles.

“In order to improve upon the fortunes of the company, I will also charge the board to support management to come out with very innovative measures or adopt world-best practices to reduce revenue leakage. The operations of the company must therefore be automated to maximise revenue.”

She urged the board and management to procure new buses to reduce the burden on government and its shareholders.

Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III said with the rising cost of fuel and increasing number of vehicles plying our roads coupled with its attendant congestion and pollution, it makes economic and social sense for an efficient public transport system to be developed to address these challenges.

The MMT, incorporated in 2003, currently employs about 4,000 people nation-wide. It also offers free bus-rides for schoolchildren in uniform up to Junior High level.