Abuja — Nigeria’s Access Holding Plc, opens new tab plans to seek a shareholders vote next month for approval to launch a capital raising program of $1.5 billion via a share sale or bond offering, it said in a notice ahead of the vote.
The holding company, which owns Access Bank, Nigeria’s biggest lender, said it will also ask existing shareholders to raise 365 billion naira ($257.93 million) through a rights issue at a meeting set for April 19.
Shares of Nigerian-based Access Bank Group, which operates across 15 countries, mostly in Africa but including Britain and France, closed at 24 naira on the Nigerian bourse on Wednesday. They hit a high of 30.70 naira in January.
A recapitalisation is looming for the banking sector in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation after central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso said lenders need to play a bigger role in boosting economic growth.
At a monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, where the central bank raised rates by 200 basis points to 24.75%, the MPC asked the regulator to quicken action on the recapitalisation of banks.
The lenders will also ask for approval to elect as a non-executive director Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, one of its founders, who had retired. The move comes after the corporation’s chief executive Herbert Wigwe died in a helicopter crash last month.
($1 = 1,415.13 naira)
*Chijioke Ohuocha; editing: Jason Neely – Reuters
