C and I Leasing Plc, in a recent notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, has announced ABRAAJ – managers of the Aureos Africa Fund will exercise the option of converting a loan granted the firm into equity.Abraaj has held a stake in the firm since 2006.
Abraaj representatives disclosed this during a Board of Directors’ meeting of C & I Leasing held in December 2018.
Implication of the conversion
Reports by Bloomberg suggest that post-conversion, Abraaj could end up with a 70% stake in the firm.
CEO of the firm Andrew Otike-Odibi, had an interview with CNBC Africa stated that Abraaj could end up with 927 million units.
C and I Leasing, however, plans to increase liquidity by floating a rights issue, after the exercise.
Prior to this
C & I Leasing in December announced its intention to restructure its issued and paid-up share capital, consolidating every four (4) ordinary shares currently held to one (1) new share in the company.
The Company made an application to The Nigerian Stock Exchange and obtained a “No Objection” to its proposal to reduce its issued and paid-up share capital from N808,505,000 being 1,617,010,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N202,126,250 being 404,252,500 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each by consolidating every four(4) ordinary shares currently held into one(1) new share in the company.
The share capital so reduced will be added the company’s share premium account.
The purpose of the reconstruction was to allow the company to have enough unissued shares to accommodate the conversion of the Abraaj loan stock to ordinary shares and to raise additional capital through the capital market for business expansion.
The firm last traded at N1.78 on the NSE, and is currently on full suspension to enable the company’s registrars to update the register of shareholders.
Results for the half year ended June 2018, shows gross earnings increased from N11.5 billion in 2017 to N12.7 billion in 2018. Profit before tax increased from N614 million in 2017 to N723 million in 2018. Profit after tax also increased from N580 million in 2017 to N682 million in 2018.
