International Breweries Plc has achieved 100% subscription in its just-concluded Rights Issue, which was described as the largest in Nigeria. The brewery giant was able to raise N165 billion through the sale of 18.3 billion units of ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N9.00 per share to its existing shareholders in December 2019.
It should be recalled that on December 5, 2019, the offer was opened for shareholders, whose names appeared in the register of members of the company as of November 6, 2019. An offer of 17 ordinary shares was made for every 8 ordinary shares to existing shareholders.
This was disclosed by the new Finance Director, Mr Bruno Zambrano when he led the Board and Management team of the company on courtesy on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The additional shares, which were raised during the offer, were listed on the NSE on Friday, February 7, 2020.
The International Breweries’ team had an interactive session with the council members of the Exchange led by Mr Oscar Onyema, CEO, NSE. Onyema commended the visitors and informed them that the Exchange was engaging Government on the need for listed companies such as IB Plc to be given tax breaks as an incentive to promote growth and productivity.
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The NSE boss asked the company to take the next bold step by visiting again soon for ‘facts behind the figures’ session to further educate capital market operators and the investing public on the financial performance of the company.
International Breweries Plc began production in Nigeria in December 1978 with an installed capacity of 200,000 hectolitres per annum. It got listed as a public limited liability company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on April 26, 1994, and has a technical service agreement with Brauhaase International Management which owned about 72% equity. SABMiller took operational management control of the company on January 1, 2012.