The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disqualified 41.65 million shares, valued at N822.60 million, from Access Holdings Plc’s recently concluded rights issue.
According to a corporate notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday, the disqualified shares, linked to five applicants, were flagged due to issues outlined in the Capital Verification Report.
The notice stated: “41,650,447 shares from five applicants among the 24,100 acceptances, valued at N822,596,328.25, were disqualified by the Central Bank of Nigeria for reasons stated in the Capital Verification Report. Therefore, 18,755,158,972 shares valued at N370.41 billion were accepted, having been confirmed as valid and verified by the CBN.”
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Despite the disqualification, Access Holdings successfully completed its rights issue. Of the 24,181 applications received for 18.82 billion shares worth N371.77 billion, 18.76 billion shares valued at N370.41 billion were verified as valid and accepted by the CBN.
The company confirmed that the shares allotted during the rights issue represented 100 per cent of the shares on offer. The rights issue, which offered 17.77 billion shares at N19.75 per share, was oversubscribed by 5.76 per cent.
A breakdown of the rights issue showed that 21,141 shareholders fully accepted their provisional allotments, amounting to 5.59 billion shares worth N110.45 billion. Additionally, 10,889 shareholders applied for an extra 10.63 billion shares, while 9.64 billion rights were fully renounced.
Furthermore, 2,324 shareholders partially accepted their provisional allotments, purchasing 395.65 million shares worth N7.81 billion. Meanwhile, 635 subscribers bought 2.14 billion shares through traded rights on the Nigerian Exchange, valued at N42.26 billion.
In addition, Access Holdings disclosed that 68.43 million shares, worth N1.35 billion, were invalidated due to non-compliance with the terms of the offer or disqualification by the CBN.
The company highlighted that the rights issue was a significant milestone in its efforts to strengthen its capital base and solidify its position as a leader in Nigeria’s banking sector.
Access Holdings Plc’s gross earnings increased to N3.4 trillion in the first nine months of this year, driven by a rise in interest income.
Access Holdings, the parent company of Nigeria’s largest bank by assets, Access Bank, reported a remarkable 114.5 per cent year-on-year increase in gross revenue, rising from N1.6 trillion in 2023 to N3.4 trillion in 2024.
The rights issue, offering 17,772,612,811 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N19.75 per share, was based on one new ordinary share for every two shares held as of June 7, 2024. The rights issue opened on July 8, 2024, and closed on August 23, 2024.
