The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disqualified 41.65 million shares valued at ₦822.60 million in Access Holdings Plc’s recently concluded rights issue, citing reasons outlined in the Capital Verification Report.
According to a corporate notice filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday, the disqualified shares were linked to five applicants among the 24,100 acceptances received during the rights issue.
The notice stated, “41,650,447 shares from five applicants among the 24,100 acceptances, valued at ₦822,596,328.25, were disqualified by the Central Bank of Nigeria for reasons stated in the Capital Verification Report. Therefore, 18,755,158,972 shares valued at ₦370.41 billion were accepted, having been confirmed as valid and verified by the CBN.”
Despite the disqualification, the rights issue was deemed successful, with Access Holdings noting that the total shares allotted represented 100% of those on offer. The rights issue offered 17.77 billion shares at ₦19.75 per share, which was oversubscribed by 5.76%, according to the allotment notice.
Access Holdings disclosed that 21,141 shareholders fully accepted their provisional allotments, amounting to 5.59 billion shares worth ₦110.45 billion. Additionally:
- 10,889 shareholders applied for an extra 10.63 billion shares.
- 9.64 billion rights were fully renounced.
- 2,324 shareholders partially accepted their provisional allotments, purchasing 395.65 million shares worth ₦7.81 billion.
- 635 subscribers acquired 2.14 billion shares through traded rights on the NGX, valued at ₦42.26 billion.
However, 68.43 million shares worth ₦1.35 billion were invalidated due to non-compliance with the offer’s terms or disqualification by the CBN.
Access Holdings emphasized that the rights issue marked a milestone in bolstering its capital base to maintain leadership in the Nigerian banking sector. The offering, which opened on July 8, 2024, and closed on August 23, 2024, was based on a ratio of one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares held as of June 7, 2024.
In addition, Access Holdings’ gross earnings increased to ₦3.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2024, representing a 114.5% year-on-year rise from ₦1.6 trillion in 2023. This growth was primarily driven by a surge in interest income.