Category: Equities

By Taofik Salako, Capital Market Editor

UPCN Property Development Company (UPDC) Plc on Monday opened application list for a N15.96 billion rights issue as the real estate company seeks new equity funds to deleverage and reposition its operations.

UPDC is offering 15.96 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to existing shareholders at a price of N1 per share. The rights issue was pre-allotted on the basis of 43 new ordinary shares for seven ordinary shares held as at the close of business on September 30, 2019.

The application period for the right issue started yesterday and will end at the close of business on Friday March 13, 2020.

Shareholders of UPDC had earlier approved a resolution authorising the board to raise up to N16 billion in new capital through issuance of equities, bonds and other convertible and nom-convertible securities. Shareholders also approved a resolution empowering the board to obtain a N16 billion bridging finance from its parent company, UAC of Nigeria (UACN).

Nigeria’s oldest surviving conglomerate, UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc had unveiled a massive restructuring programme that would see the unbundling of its publicly quoted real estate subsidiary, UPDC and its associated company- UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (UPDC REIT).

Read Also: Capital market experts brainstorm on 2020 budget

Under the first part of the multi-structured restructuring plan, UPDC will float a rights issue of N15.96 billion to reduce outstanding debt to a level that it is serviceable from recurring cashflows. After this, UPDC will unbundle its shareholding in UPDC REIT by directly transferring the shares to its shareholders on the basis of post-rights issue shareholdings. Thus UPDC’s shareholders will become direct shareholders in UPDC REIT.

On the second part, UACN will unbundle its majority equity stake in UPDC by directly transferring its shareholdings in the real estate company to UACN’s shareholders, thus making the existing UACN’s shareholders the direct owners of shares in UPDC. UACN will also unbundle the shares of UPDC REIT allocated to it under the UPDC-UPDCREIT transaction to its shareholders, thus making UACN’s shareholders direct owners in UPDC REIT.

“On the account of UPDC’s unbundling of its interest in the UPDC REIT, post the implementation of the respective strategic initiatives described above, each UAC shareholder will hold shares in three separate entities-UAC, UPDC and the UPDC REIT benefitting from the future prospects of each,” UACN and UPDC stated in a joint statement on the proposed transactions.

With the completion of the rights issue and the unbundling of UPDC and UACN, UPDC will no longer own any units in UPDC REIT, UPDC REIT will cease to be an associate of UPDC, UPDC shareholders will become direct unitholders in UPDC REIT in addition to their shares in UPDC, UPDC will cease to be a subsidiary of UACN and UACN’s shareholders will become direct shareholders in UPDC and unitholders in UPDC REIT.

Capital market experts are scheduled to meet on Thursday to brainstorm on the Federal Government’s 2020 budget and its implications for the capital market.

At the fourth Budget Seminar Series being organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), experts will brainstorm on the theme, “Leveraging the 2020 Budget and Finance Act for the Growth of the Nigerian Capital Market”.

In a statement, the Commission stated that the seminar series has been established as a forum for evaluating the connection between the Nigerian capital market and the annual Federal Government’s budget.

According to SEC, a major aim of the seminar series is to identify how the capital market can contribute to and in turn benefit from the budget and its implementation.

READ ALSO: 2020 Budget in the eyes of common man

Experts with insightful knowledge and experience on various economic activities will deliberate extensively, with the aim of enlightening participants on the area of focus for the seminar.

Experts will discuss the budget within the context of the overall national economic growth plan and domestic investors’ base.

Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, plans to improve Gross National Savings (GNS) steadily to 15.53 per cent, 18.19 per cent and 21.31 per cent in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

By Collins Nweze

The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF), through the New World Programme (NWP), has given a grant of $100,000 to the Mental and Environmental Development Initiative for Children (MEDIC) for implementing a Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE).

The move aligns with the firm’s plan to further express its commitment to empowering women, youths and building sustainable communities.

The Coca-Cola Company recognises the challenge of plastic waste disposal in the world, including in Nigeria. The company is running a World Without Waste programme, which seeks to not only educate people on waste disposal but also to work with relevant stakeholders such as MEDIC to improve plastic waste disposal and recycling procedure.

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe said: “What RESWAYE does is it focuses on two crucial passion points for us at Coca-Cola which are women’s empowerment and sustainable waste management.

Read Also: T.Y. Danjuma Foundation donates N200m for health, education

We recognise the importance of preserving our environment and we are passionate about empowering women to reach their full potential. For this reason, we are excited to be partnering with MEDIC on this.”

Founder of MEDIC, Doyinsola Ogunye said: “We have been working in this community for over five years, but mostly with the children.

With RESWAYE, we are empowering the women to not only give occupy them but to also equip them enough to provide for and take care of their families.

This launch is a historic event because this is the first ever network of women who recycle in Nigeria and we cannot be more proud.”

Nwamaka Onyemelukwe said: “We are proud to partner with them on the RESWAYE to tackle Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 13, 14, and 15, which are: Climate Action, Life Underwater, and Life on Land. RESWAYE seeks to empower self-motivated women and young people who are ready to make a positive change in their environment.”

By Collins Nweze

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has restated its commitment to the productivity and profitability of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) through funding, capacity building, advisory and other forms of support.

The supports are meant to boost their overall contributions to economic development.

FCMB, rated as the number one bank for SMEs in Nigeria in the latest Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey report by KPMG, gave the assurance at a free  capacity building and empowerment programme it organised for women entrepreneurs in Ogun State.

This was done in partnership with the Office of the First Lady of the State, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun. It is a follow-up to similar ones organised by the bank in other parts of the country since 2018.

The programme, themed, ‘’Supporting Women Businesses to Scale Up in 2020’’ and under the auspices of FCMB’s SME Advisory and SheVentures initiative for women entrepreneurs, was attended by hundreds of existing and start-up entrepreneurs across Ogun State, seasoned professionals from the Bank of Industry (BoI), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among others.

It focused on business and skills development, marketing, finance, taxation, cost and revenue management, business plan writing, in addition to other topical issues.

Executive Director, Business Development of FCMB, Mrs. Bukola Smith, said the bank recognises the role and impact of SMEs, especially women-owned ones.

According to her, ‘’it is a fact that in Nigeria, several women have risen through various challenges to become top entrepreneurs. Through resilience and innovation, they have taken the front seat in driving growth in this sector and by extension the larger economy.

However, we believe that women can do better in the SMEs ecosystem if provided with the requisite skills and other resources. Overall, SMEs in Nigeria have what it takes to compete at the highest level in the international market, but without the requisite exposure and other forms of empowerment, it can be very difficult to succeed locally and internationally’’.

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Mrs. Smith added: ‘’As the number one bank for SMEs in Nigeria, we have built a strong base in this segment by consistently offering various cutting-edge solutions under our key pillars of support, which are, access to capital, capacity building, advisory services, networking opportunity and technology.

‘’We are excited that these interventions have tremendously impacted individuals, businesses and the nation’s economy, especially through job and wealth creation. We will continue to assist SMEs to overcome the challenges they usually face, especially at the take-off stage, because we want to be part of their success story,’’

Mrs. Abiodun said: ‘’As a firm believer in initiatives that focus on boosting the economic capacity of women and offering both financial and non-financial support to women-owned enterprises, I consider this programme as a step in the right direction.

I was excited when I was informed about the FCMB SheVentures initiative. Financial empowerment remains one of the most important means of eradicating poverty among women in the developing world, as seen in Bangladesh, Kenya and Nigeria’’.

By Collins Nweze

Polaris Bank has introduced its Agency Banking Solution to serve as a vehicle to reach the unbanked and underbanked, as well as deepen financial inclusion across the country.

The product known as ‘SurePadi’ was designed to provide convenient and easy access to funds and other banking services in far-flung neighbourhoods, through partnerships with existing and new retail outlets.

Polaris Bank Chief Digital Officer, Dele Adeyinka, said the introduction of SurePadi was in line with our plan to deepen financial inclusion by serving the huge unbanked and underbanked population, especially in locations where basic banking services are far from reach.

Read Also: Polaris Bank named Best DMB in consumer protection

He further stated: “With Nigeria’s financial exclusion rate currently at 36.8 percent according to CBN, the goal of achieving 20 percent this year to close the exclusion gap of 16.8 percent is also a factor driving our SurePadi Banking Solution.”

“The SurePadi banking solution is also one of the ways we are helping to reduce unemployment in the country because when you sign up an agent, one of the benefits is that it provides a means of earning additional disposable income,” he added.

Agency banking service is a convenient way of providing limited banking services to customers through the use of Agents who usually are non-traditional bankers or banking businesses.

By Taofik Salako

International Breweries Plc and Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc at the weekend increased the market capitalisation of the Nigerian stock market by N166.77 billion with the listing of additional shares from their recent new issues.

International Breweries, the Nigerian subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), at the weekend added N164.39 billion to its market capitalisation through the listing of 18.266 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N9 per share. The new listing represented the full subscription to the company’s recent rights issue.

Read Also: Stock Exchange recovers N1.44b shares for investors

With the additional shares, the  total  issued  and  fully  paid  up  shares  of International Breweries increased from 8.6 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to 26.86 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

Also, Abbey Mortgage Bank added N2.37 billion to its market capitalisation through the listing of 2.26 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo at N1.05 per share. The new shares arose from a private placement made to VFD Group Plc.

With the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid up shares of Abbey Mortgage Bank increased from 4.20 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to 6.46 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.