The rights issue and public offer of Fidelity Bank Plc are commencing today, Thursday, June 20, 2024, and this is causing a frenzy among investors in the capital market, especially the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
On Wednesday, the company posted its biggest single-day trading at the stock exchange when it transacted 1.1 billion units of its shares valued at N11.3 billion, topping the activity chart during the session.
Investors are showing interest in the financial institution and want a bite of the pie as it sets its eyes on the tier-1 category in the Nigerian banking sector, which currently has only five members collectively known as ZAGUF, comprising Zenith Bank, Access Bank, GTBank, UBA, and First Bank.
Fidelity is raising fresh funds from the rights issue and public offer to meet the new minimum capital requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on March 24. About N127.10 billion is expected from the rights issue and public offer.
The banking industry regulator wants lenders with international licences to push their capital base from N25 billion to N500 billion, while banks with national licences must have at least N200 billion on or before March 31, 2026.
The bank is offering 3.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N9.25 per unit to shareholders in the ratio of one new ordinary share for every 10 ordinary shares held as of January 5, 2024, for the rights issue.
As for the public offer, Fidelity Bank is selling 10 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo at N9.75 per unit to interested investors, who will mainly be high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors.
Subscriptions for the exercises will close on Monday, July 29, 2024, details obtained by Business Post disclosed.
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.
–By Aduragbemi Omiyale