The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday approved the technical suspension of the shares of Access Bank Plc to enable the bank to preserve shareholders’ value as it moves to raise up to N68bn additional capital.
According to the Exchange, technical suspension is the interruption of price movement in listed shares for a specified period so that any dealings in the shares which occur during the period of the suspension will not result in change in price.
The Exchange explained in a statement posted on its website that it granted “anticipatory approval” for Access Bank’s shares to be placed on technical suspension following an application made by the bank.
 |
| Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema |
It added, “The bank will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on Monday, October 13, 2014 to seek its shareholders’ authorisation for the Board of Directors to raise additional equity capital in the sum of up to N68bn by way of a rights issue.
“The board believes that the technical suspension is in the overall interest of the bank’s shareholders and will preserve the shareholders’ value, on account of the proposed corporate action.”
According to the Exchange, the technical suspension will be lifted on January 27, 2015 and normal trading activities will resume on January 28, 2015.
Access Bank shareholders had on May 30 at its 25th Annual General Meeting approved plans by the bank to raise $1bn to strengthen its operations and enable it to achieve its goal of becoming one of the top three banks in the country.
The bank had explained at the yearly meeting that the amount would be raised in tranches at a date to be determined by its directors.
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, gave shareholders the assurance that the move would not affect the value of their investment.
He said, “The most important thing is that should we need more money in the future, in a timely manner, it would be easier to access the market. The business of banking is fundamentally about managing risk and managing risk requires some form of capital. So, we are raising this money so that we can basically leverage it to lend customers.”
On how the additional capital would be raised, the Chairman, Access Bank, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, had said, “The board considered a variety of available capital raising options and came to the conclusion that having the option of raising additional financing of up to $1bn or its equivalent in local currency via the issuance of debt instruments is the most cost-efficient option to meet the bank’s capital adequacy objectives.”
Access Bank had in June issued a $400m Eurobond.
Wigwe had described the successful $400m seven-year Tier 2 capital issuance, which is callable at the end of five years, as the largest Tier 2 issuance by any Nigerian bank, adding that it would provide the bank with the additional capacity to focus on its strategy and deliver superior returns to shareholders.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment