Guinness Nigeria Plc has received clearance of the issue documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission and approvals from the Nigerian Stock Exchange to list its new shares on the NSE.
This is coming on the heels of shareholders’ approval received by Guinness in January this year.
The company said the funds raised would support them in executing their strategy in the context of ongoing external economic challenges.
Guinness plans to raise N39,700,688,598 by way of rights to existing shareholders, on the basis of five new shares for every 11 shares held by shareholders, whose names appeared in the register of members of the company as at 15 March 2017, at an issue price ofN58 per share.
The issue price represents a discount of 15 per cent to the company’s closing share price on 14 March 2017, being the last day prior to the announcement of the proposed Rights Issue by The Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Commenting, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Guinness, Nigeria, Peter Ndegwa, said, “This Rights Issue will allow the company to deliver on its strategic objectives and give all our shareholders a unique opportunity to increase the number of shares they hold. Our expectation is that funds raised will help mitigate the impact of increasing finance costs, optimise our balance sheet and improve the company’s financial flexibility.”
