BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO AND FESTUS OKOROMADU
Access Holdings Plc has secured $300 million fresh capital to aid the expansion plan of its key subsidiary, Access Bank Plc, into the African financial market.
The Holding firm on Tuesday made the announcement to investors at the Nigeria Exchange Limited in a notice signed by the Company’s Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi.
Late last month, Access Holdings Plc, announced the receipt of final regulatory approval for the acquisition and merger of Atlas Mara Zambia formerly owned by African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited.
The fresh capital will supplement the capital needs of her African expansion strategy.
“The completion of a $300 million capital investment into its flagship subsidiary, Access Bank Plc the proceeds of which will supplement the capital needs of its African expansion strategy. Over the years, the Bank has made significant strides towards attaining strong market presence in the key trade and payments corridors across the African continent,” the Group noted.
The investment takes the form of a Tier 1 capital qualifying Mandatory Convertible Investment and is expected to improve the Bank’s shareholders fund and total capital ratio. The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the investment.
Commenting on the development, Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief Executive of Access Holdings, said: “As a leading financial institution in the continent, we remain foresighted in our approach to our growth and capitalization needs. This investment is a capstone initiative following the $500 million Additional Tier 1 capital raised by the Bank in 2021 and advances its vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank.”
He further explained that “Access Holdings benefits from this non-dilutive approach to raising growth capital as we continue to invest in initiatives geared towards delivering our vision of building a globally connected community and ecosystem inspired by Africa for the World through disciplined growth and diversification.”
Meanwhile, the bears continued to dominate the domestic bourse on Tuesday as the NGX All-Share Index extended losses by 0.29 percent to settle at 54,035.39 points.
The market’s weak performance was driven primarily by continued selloffs in ZENITHBANK (-2.52%), GTCO (-3.15%) and WAPCO (-0.77%). Consequently, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 5.43 percent and the market capitalization lost N84.38billion to close at N29.44trillion.
Analysis of Tuesday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 28.82 percent.
A total of 296.74million units of shares valued at N3.07 billion were exchanged in 4,590 deals. FIDELITYBK (-0.37%) led the volume chart with 46.59million units traded, while ZENITHBANK (-2.52%) led the value chart in deals worth N373.78 million.
Market breadth closed negative at a 1.73-to-1 ratio with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. ETERNA (-8.94%) topped eighteen (18) others on the laggard’s log, while NAHCO (+9.55%) led ten (10) others on the leader’s table.
