Darasimi Adebisi
Airtel Africa Plc yesterday on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) announced plans to buy back 8.27 per cent minority shareholdings at an offer price of N55.81 per share from its subsidiary, Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel Nigeria).
The company in a statement hinted that: “Assuming all minority shareholders decide to tender their shares, the total consideration is estimated to be N61.24 billion or $148.1million using an exchange rate of N413.38 N/USD). This represents an open offer to all shareholders.”
The stock price of the company traded flat at N715.00 yesterday on NGX.
Meanwhile, the company yesterday announced that Olusegun Ogunsanya has resumed duty as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, as at 1 October 2021 and joined the Board of Airtel Africa plc.
Segun was previously Managing Director and CEO of Airtel Nigeria and was responsible for the overall management of the operations in the Company’s largest market.
Ogunsanya in a statement signed by group company secretary, Simon O’Hara said :”I am looking forward to building on the solid foundations the Group has established for future sustainable growth across Africa. Moving forward, we will invest even more in our network and distribution channels to serve the communities where we operate. By doing this, we will continue to sustainably bridge the digital divide, expand financial inclusion and meet the evolving needs of our customers.
“Ogunsanya has more than 25 years business management experience in banking, consumer goods and telecoms. Before joining Airtel in 2012, Segun held leadership roles at Coca-Cola in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (as MD and CEO). He has also been the Managing Director of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (Coca-Cola Hellenic owned) and Group head of retail banking operations at Ecobank Transnational Inc, covering 28 countries in Africa. He is an electronics engineer and also a chartered accountant.”
Meanwhile, trading on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) stock market started on a positive note as investors’ interest in FBN Holdings, 22 others inspired yesterday’s gain.
Precisely, the benchmark index, NGX All-Share Index appreciated by 0.05 per cent to close at 40,243.05 basis points from 40,221.17 basis points it opened for trading yesterday.
Similarly, the market capitalisation gained N14 billion to close at N20.970 trillion.
Analysing by sectors, the Insurance (+1.5per cent) and Consumer Goods (+0.1per cent) indices posted gains while the Oil & Gas (-0.4 per cent) index declined. The Industrial Goods and Banking indices closed flat.
Accordingly, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +0.1per cent and -0.1per cent, respectively.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Eterna, United Capital, AXA Mansard Insurance, Pharm-Deko and FBN Holdings (FBNH).
