ZEN Petroleum extends strong debut with near 10% gain                                           

By Kingsley Webora TANKEH

Shares in ZEN Petroleum Holdings climbed nearly 10 percent on their second day of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) on Thursday, April 23, 2026 – extending a strong debut as investors continued to accumulate the newly-listed oil marketing company following last month’s heavily oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO).

The rally lifted ZEN’s share price to GH¢5.55 and helped push the GSE Composite Index up 1.18 percent to 14,934.57 points, marking its sharpest single-session gain in recent weeks.

This development comes as investment analysts hailed the listing, describing it as a significant step toward deepening the market and supporting local business growth.

However, the analysts warned that the dominance of institutional investors on the market, especially pension funds who buy and hoard shares, stifle price discovery and may undermine trading in the new stock.

ZEN Petroleum Holdings – an indigenous oil marketing company (OMC) – has carried the torch, becoming the first company to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange during 2026 following GSE’s ending of a seven-year listing drought in December last year.

The IPO was oversubscribed by 94 percent, turning away bids worth roughly GH¢330million. The indigenous Oil Marketing Company (OMC), valued at GH¢3.2billion, offered 20 percent equity to the public at the IPO – raising GH¢640million.

The ZEN Petroleum listing marks the first time an indigenous private downstream sector company has gone public on the stock market.

While the IPO was oversubscribed – signalling strong investor appetite – analysts cautioned that the hoarding of shares by institutional investors could create a liquidity problem in the new stock, stifling secondary market activity.

In an exclusive interview with Business and Financial Times (B&FT), the Head of Pensions at Merban Capital, Kofi Kyei, while acknowledging the listing as a step in the right direction said this structural challenge could undermine the very liquidity the market seeks.

“The market is looking for stocks that can have active trading participation. It has to be liquid. But from the structure of the listings we are seeing, the shares have mainly been taken by pension funds,” he stated.

This, Mr. Kyei argued, cuts off the supply of shares for trading, creating liquidity challenges and limiting ability to discover the fair value of shares through transactions on the market.

“If you want to list and you want Ghanaians to really be participating, then the shares have to be in the hands of the common people on the street – the common investors who can actively buy and sell,” Mr. Kyei advised.

However, a senior research analyst at Tesah Capital, Joshua Adagbe, noted ZEN Petroleum’s listing will provide more choices for investors; thus breaking the longstanding duopoly of Goil and Total  as the only downstream sector stocks on the market.

While acknowledging listing presents an exit opportunity for early investors, Mr. Adagbe noted ZEN is a case study of how locally-owned businesses can scale and reward early believers. “This is a beautiful story of how homegrown companies can also get to that level and then make very good returns for their investors,” he said.

The listing, he stressed, will “deepen the market” and trigger “a lot of price discovery” if pension investors shift from their long-held strategy. “We should encourage institutional investors that in the process of participation, they should aid in price discovery through the buying and selling of the shares,” he said.

Delivering his keynote address at the listing ceremony at GSE in Accra, renowned businessman Sir Sam Jonah, who described himself as a “strong supporter” of ZEN Petroleum, emphasised that the company’s oversubscribed IPO represents trust in the company’s future.

“That trust is a precious thing. It is hard-won and it is easily lost. ZEN cannot afford to abuse it,” he warned.

Sir Sam Jonah noted that the listing should serve as a challenge to other indigenous businesses, “not a party” – urging them to muster enough courage to list on the stock market.

“I want Ghanaian entrepreneurs to look at this ceremony today and think, ‘If ZEN can do it, so can we’,'” he said, noting that “building a world-class, best-in-class Ghanaian company is not only possible, it is sustainable and it is impactful”.

Deputy Managing Director-GSE Frank Berle expressed the exchange’s joy at ZEN Petroleum joining the market, hoping it will have a cascading effect. “We are particularly encouraged that ZEN’s IPO follows closely on the heels of another IPO in December last year. This trend is a strong signal of renewed confidence in the market,” Mr. Berle said.

ZEN Petroleum prides itself as a wholly Ghanaian OMC. However, its listing creates a potential avenue for the dilution of indigenous ownership by foreign investors. The Chairman of ZEN Petroleum Holdings, Frank Adu Jr., allayed those fears – revealing that the company has special arrangements with GSE and the Central Securities Depository to ensure that no foreign investors acquire shares in the listed company.

“There is a way between the exchange and depository to ensure that we remain 100 percent Ghanaian,” Mr. Adu explained.

The Managing Director of ZEN Petroleum Holdings, William Tewiah, noted that the 20 percent float was deliberate to test the waters. “It’s one step at a time. Before you jump in, you dip your toes in the water… and that’s what we did,” he explained.

Mr. Tewiah confirmed that the company intends to deploy the GH¢640million to expand market share in the downstream sector and explore new product offerings, emphasising that the funds will be channelled into operational growth rather than debt-servicing.

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