Fidelity Bank secures approval for private placement of unissued ordinary shares
Fidelity Bank Plc has secured the approval of its shareholders to issue its unissued ordinary shares by way of the private placement.
This was approved at the Bank’s Extra-Ordinary General Meeting which had in attendance various regulators such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Exchange Group, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Corporate Affairs Commission.
According to the bank, the disposal of the Company’s outstanding N3.04 billion unissued Ordinary Shares of 50Kobo would enable the Bank to rake in more capital for growth.
Mustafa Chike-Obi, Chairman, Fidelity Bank Plc, said the development is necessary as it is in compliance with Section 124 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) and Regulation 13 of the Companies Regulations 2021 which require companies with unissued shares at the time of commencement of CAMA 2020 to issue such shares by December 31, 2022.
He said, “After considering the options, the Board resolved that the Company’s outstanding 3,037,414,308 unissued Ordinary Shares of 50Kobo each should be disposed of by way of Private Placement to strategic investors to enable the Bank to generate additional capital for continued growth in line with its objectives.”
Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank noted, “Fidelity Bank is growing in leaps and bounds and we need to expand our capital base to take advantage of emerging opportunities. We will also use the additional capital to enhance our technology infrastructure to enable us to serve more customers.”
According to a disclosure signed by Ezinwa Unuigboje, the Company Secretary the transaction is subject to the approval of the Prudential Regulatory Authority of the United Kingdom.
On the back of its H1 2022 results, the Bank recently paid an interim dividend of 10 Kobo per 50 Kobo ordinary share, the first interim dividend payment.
