UBA records 100% subscribed rights Issue

Following a 100 per cent successful rights issues, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has listed 3,298,138,756 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo at N3.50.

With the supplementary listing of 3,298,138,756 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid up shares of the Bank has now increased from 32,981,387,566 to 36,279,526,322 ordinary shares. The listing is a subsequent to the conclusion of the Rights Issue exercise by the Bank and was listed on Daily Official List of The Exchange

The financial Institutions had extended the offer period and gave additional discount of 12.5 per cent as part of incentives to woo shareholders to its ongoing rights issue.

The bank had reduced the offer price by 12.5 per cent to N3.50 while extending the offer period by one week to February 12, 2015.

The bank however retained the pre-allotment ratio of one for 10 shares and shares on offer of 3.298 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. This implies that the gross proceeds target will reduce from N13.2 billion to N11.5 billion.

UBA would use the net proceeds of its ongoing rights issue to finance its business development plan aimed at further entrenching the bank as the leading bank in Africa.

Regulatory filing on the rights issue indicated that the bank would use the net proceeds of the N13billion rights issue to strengthen its business units across Africa.

Group managing director, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said the new business plan was designed to consolidate the group’s strategic positioning and fully capture the opportunities from Africa’s economic renaissance.

According to him, Project Alpha is focused on leveraging all aspects of the group’s footprint, product offerings and operational capability, allowing a commitment to customer service transformation, market share growth, the implementation of key e-banking initiatives across all segments, the growth of corporate and trade finance capabilities.

He outlined that a critical aspect of the Project Alpha initiative is the focus on UBA Africa, which is projected to contribute about 50 per cent to the group by 2016.

He pointed out that Project Alpha will allow the bank to build on the existing strengths of its franchise as well as continue to reinvent ourselves, ensuring it captures and delivers the maximum of value for all stakeholders.

The share price of UBA was down by N0.10 from N4.33 it opened the week to N4.23 on last week Friday.