One of the publicly quoted insurance firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Prestige Assurance Plc, has revised the terms of its proposed rights issue.
This information was disclosed in a notification which was made available to dealing members of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and signed by the head of listing regulations of NSE, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai.
In the revised terms of the proposed rights issue by Prestige Assurance Plc, 13,635,796,006 ordinary shares of 50 kobo per share are to be sold to existing shareholders at 50 kobo on the basis of 38 new ordinary shares for every 15 ordinary shares that was held as at the close of business on Friday, January 31, 2020.
This is against the initial terms of the proposed rights issue, which was 13,465,377,640 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each were to be sold to existing shareholders at 50 kobo on the basis of 5 new ordinary shares for every 2 ordinary shares that were held as at close of business on Friday, January 31, 2020.
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The proposed rights issue by Prestige Assurance Plc is part of the plans of the insurance firm to meet up with the recapitalization deadline set by the insurance regulator, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). The regulatory agency had set out a deadline of December 31, 2020, for all insurance operators to meet up with the prescribed minimum capital requirement for the sector.
The board of Prestige Assurance Plc is quite hopeful that the funds to be raised would position the insurance firm for better operation and scale through the recapitalization hurdle.
Prestige Assurance Plc is one of Nigeria’s leading general insurance firms with offices nationwide with over 65 years of undisputable insurance services in the country. It was incorporated as a limited liability company on January 6, 1970, and licensed to write all classes of non-life insurance in Nigeria. Prior to its incorporation, it had operated as a branch office of New India Assurance Company Limited Mumbai, the largest general insurer in Afro-Asia region with presence in over 28 countries.
It has a shareholders’ fund in excess of N8.1 billion as at December 31, 2018.