Capitalisation: Fidelity Bank opens N127bn public offer
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Fidelity Bank has signed the necessary documentation to raise about N127.1bn from a public offer and rights issue to its existing shareholders to raise its capital base in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s fresh capitalisation directive.
A statement from the bank on Wednesday indicated that the bank is eyeing N97.5bn fresh funds from its public offer and N29.6bn from its rights issue which offers existing shareholders one new ordinary share for every 10 ordinary shares held as of January 5 2024, at N9.25 per share.
For the Public Offer, 10,000,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each will be offered to the general investing public at N9.75 per share.
The signing ceremony for the combined offer was held at the Board Room of the headquarters of Fidelity Bank in Lagos on Wednesday.
At the Signing Ceremony, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, disclosed that “The proceeds of the Combined Offer will be applied towards investment in IT infrastructure, business and regional expansion, and investment in product distribution channels.”
Stanbic IBTC Capital is the Lead Issuing House to the Combined Offer, whilst the Joint Issuing Houses include Iron Global Markets Limited, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Afrinvest Capital Limited, FSL Securities Limited, Futureview Financial Services Limited, Iroko Capital Market Advisory Limited, Kairos Capital Limited and Planet Capital Limited.
The acceptance and application lists for the Rights Issue and Public Offer are expected to open on Thursday, 20 June 2024 and close on Monday, 29 July 2024.
Speaking on the deal, the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Capital, Oladele Sotubo, commended Fidelity Bank’s management team for their commitment towards executing the Combined Offer.
He lauded their efforts for being at the forefront of achieving the CBN’s revised minimum capital requirements for Nigerian commercial banks.
He said the deal would encourage other corporates to tap into the equity capital markets to raise funding to meet their strategic business needs.
The shareholders of Fidelity Bank approved the Rights Issue and Public Offer at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting held in August 2023.
Fidelity Bank has an international operating licence from the CBN and thus would be looking to raise its capital base to N500bn within the next two years.
Already, the apex regulator has said it has started to review the capital-raising plans submitted by the banks at the expiration of the April 30th deadline.
