Nigeria: CBN Disqualifies 41.65 Million Shares in Access Holdings Rights Issue

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.

According to a corporate notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday, the disqualified shares were associated with five applicants and flagged for reasons outlined in the Capital Verification Report.

“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,” the statement read.

Despite this, Access Holdings reported a successful rights issue. Out of 24,181 applications received for 18.82 billion shares worth ₦371.77 billion, 18.76 billion shares valued at ₦370.41 billion were verified as valid and accepted by the CBN.

“The shares allotted regarding the rights issue represent 100 percent of the shares on offer,” the company noted. The rights issue, which offered 17.77 billion shares at ₦19.75 per share, was oversubscribed by 5.76 percent.

Breakdown of the Rights Issue

The company provided detailed insights into the rights issue:

• Full Acceptance: 21,141 shareholders fully accepted their provisional allotments, totaling 5.59 billion shares worth ₦110.45 billion.
• Additional Applications: 10,889 shareholders applied for an extra 10.63 billion shares.
• Renounced Rights: 9.64 billion rights were fully renounced.
• Partial Acceptance: 2,324 shareholders partially accepted their provisional allotments, subscribing to 395.65 million shares valued at ₦7.81 billion.
• Traded Rights: 635 subscribers purchased 2.14 billion shares via traded rights on the Nigerian Exchange, worth ₦42.26 billion.

Access Holdings also disclosed that 68.43 million shares valued at ₦1.35 billion were invalidated due to non-compliance with the offer’s terms or disqualification by the CBN.

Strategic Importance

The company emphasized that the rights issue marked a critical milestone in bolstering its capital base and maintaining its leadership in Nigeria’s banking sector.

It was earlier reported that Access Holdings’ gross earnings rose to ₦3.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2024, driven by increased interest income.

The rights issue of 17,772,612,811 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at ₦19.75 per share, offered based on one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares held as of June 7, 2024, was open from July 8, 2024, to August 23, 2024.

In the nine months under review, Access Holdings, the parent company of Nigeria’s largest bank by assets, Access Bank, reported a 114.5% year-on-year growth in gross revenue, rising from ₦1.6 trillion in 2023 to ₦3.4 trillion in 2024.