Stanbic IBTC shareholders approve holding company structure

Shareholders approve holding company structure

   

 

Shareholders of Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Standard Bank Group, have approved the creation of a holding company – Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc – for the bank and its other non-banking businesses. The resolution was unanimously endorsed by 99.06 percent of its shareholders at the court-ordered Extra-Ordinary General Meeting held on Thursday August 9, 2012.

 

The new structure, according to the Chairman of the Stanbic IBTC Group, Mr. Atedo Peterside, is in compliance with the revised regulatory framework by the Central Bank of Nigeria which requires banks to divest from non-core banking businesses or adopt a holding structure. The new structure comes into effect in September 2012

 

He emphasized that the holding company structure will consolidate on the strengths and expertise of each business unit to enhance the entire group’s ability to drive growth into the future, adding that the new structure will accrue significant benefits to shareholders from the entire business, while Stanbic IBTC Bank’s customers will not be exposed to the risks associated with the non-banking activities of the other businesses of the group

 

“A major reason for adopting the new structure is to consolidate on our goal of building Nigeria’s leading end-to-end financial services organization, leveraging on our competitive advantages in the various business segments, supported by the financial resources and global network of Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC belongs," Peterside said.

 

Among other resolutions passed at the Extra-Ordinary Meeting was the reduction of the bank’s share capital by a total of N7.5 billion as a result of cancellation of 15 billion out of the 18.75 billion ordinary shares. The holding company will have 10 billion issued and fully paid up shares of 50 kobo each. Following the share reduction, the number of shares held by a shareholder will accordingly change as four out of every five shares will be cancelled. The excess capital from the share cancellation will be returned to shareholders as cash, with each shareholder being paid 50 kobo for each share cancelled and the remaining shares converted to shares in the holding company at a ratio of one to 2.67.