Shareholders of Paints and Coatings Manufacturers Nigeria (PCMN) Plc are scheduled to meet and vote on sub-joined resolutions that will see the company revert to a private limited liability company and the delisting of its shares from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)
Why the meeting
A Federal High Court had directed the company to convene a court-ordered meeting where shareholders will deliberate and vote on the scheme of arrangement for the change in the status of the company and the delisting from the NSE.
It is expected that a new company-Paintcom Investment Nigeria Limited is likely to emerge after the delisting.
The NSE has confirmed that the company had submitted an application for a scheme of arrangement between the company and holders of its fully paid-up ordinary shares in furtherance of the delisting.
Sale of AMCON Shares
It would be recalled that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) recently sold the fourth largest equity in PCMN to Bizfeat Ventures Limited, a relatively unknown firm.
This involved transfer of a total of 58.66 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held by AMCON to Bizfeat Ventures at a negotiated price of N1.05 per share. AMCON, the bad-debt resolution corporation floated by the government, transferred its 7.4 percent equity in PCMN to Bizfeat Ventures through a negotiated cross deal at the NSE.
The AMCON-PCMN deal was done through the negotiated cross deal platform of the Exchange, this is a special-purpose trading platform that is meant for voluminous transaction equivalent to five percent or more of the issued shares of any company.
By the cross deal, it implies that the buyer and the seller had been prearranged and the transfer at the stock market was a mere perfection of the agreement between the two. The negotiated cross deal allows the parties to the deal to close the deal at a reduced cost. AMCON had previously used the same window for block divestments in several companies.
Concerns raised by Industry watchers
- Many authoritative sources at the market described Bizfeat Ventures as unknown and a global internet search did not throw up any information on the company.
- A review of the related corporate reports also did not establish any previous link or shareholding between PCMN and Bizfeat Ventures.
Paints and Coatings Manufacturers Nigeria (PCMN) Plc commenced business in Nigeria in 2001 in Port Harcourt, as the Sole distributor of International Paints Protective coatings and Marine Coatings, the worlds leading brand for the Oil & Gas Industry
