Goddy Egene
AIICO Insurance Plc is to raise about N3.486 billion from the capital market through a rights issue. In a notification to the dealing members yesterday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) said AIICO Insurance Plc had submitted an application to the Exchange for the approval and listing of a rights issue of about 4,357,770,954 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 80 kobo per share. The rights issue would be made on the basis of five new ordinary shares for 13 ordinary shares held.
Before now and in compliance with the new minimum capital requirements, AIICO had concluded the private placement phase of its recapitalisation exercise with the uptake of 38.83 per cent of its shares by two strategic investors.
LeapFrog Nigeria Insurance Holdings Limited acquired a 28.24 per cent stake in the company, while AIICO Bahamas Nigeria Limited acquired a 10.59 per cent stake.
Shareholders of the company had an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) held last March, approved an increase in the authorized share capital to N18 billion through various instruments to meet the new minimum capital base for a composite insurer based on the NAICOM guidelines. They also approved the raising of additional capital.
Speaking on the company’s recapitalisation efforts, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AIICO Insurance Plc, Mr. Babatunde Fajemirokun said: “The future looks bright for our company. We are making progress in positioning our company for long-term sustainability. Increasing our capital base will enable us to strengthen our balance sheet, provide additional capacity to underwrite more risks and deliver better returns to our shareholders.”
Meanwhile, trading at the stock market resumed on a bearish note as investors embarked on profit taking. The NSE All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to close at 24,954.25, while market capitalisation shed N119.2 billion to close at N13 trillion.
Also, activity level fell as volume and value traded declined 29.5 per cent and 52.7 per cent respectively to 237.6 million shares and N1.6 billion. The most active stocks by volume were FBN Holdings Plc (24.4 million shares), Zenith Bank Plc (24.1 million shares) and FCMB Group Plc (19.5 million shares) while Zenith Bank Plc (N392.4 million), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (N341 million) and FBN Holdings (N128.8 million) led the value chart.
In terms of sectoral performance, only the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.9 per cent. Conversely, the NSE Banking Index led the decliners with 1.9 per cent trailed by the NSE Industrial Goods Index with 1.4 per cent.
