FBN Holdings Opens Rights Issue as Share Price Picks Up
FBN Holdings Plc (Ticker: FBNH) has opened its rights issue, offering to sell 5.983 billion ordinary shares at 50k each to existing shareholders at N25 per share in a bid to raise additional capital totaling N150 billion.
This offering is based on one new ordinary share for every six ordinary shares held as at Oct. 18. The Chairman, FBN Holdings, Mr Femi Otedola, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.
The group launched its capital raise just after its stock market price picked up. Ticker: FBNH had dropped below N20 before it cancelled 2023 annual general meetings. At the close of business on Friday, FBNH ticked up by more than 10% week on week to N28.75.
FBNH chair Otedola said the offer is part of the company’s plan to recapitalise its commercial banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. Otedola said the move was aimed at enhancing the bank’s capacity for business development, growth, and expansion in both wholesale and retail segments.
Otedola noted that the fresh capital would also boost the bank’s automation and digital banking services and African expansion plans. He urged shareholders to support the initiative by taking up their rights, saying that such effort would strengthen the company and First Bank, while positioning them for growth and improved performance.
Otedola said that this would deliver significantly enhanced Total Shareholders’ Return (TSR) in the medium term and return the bank to its rightful place in the league of financial institutions.
Also, the Group Managing Director, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, said that the rights issue gives the shareholders an opportunity to retain the relative stake in the company, while providing the required capital buffers to maximise business opportunities in the economy.
Okonkwo said that shareholders of the holdings unanimously supported the rights issue at its 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Aug. 15, 2023. #FBN Holdings Opens Rights Issue after Share Price Picks Up Liquidity: Banks Drive Yield Surge with T-Bills Selloffs
