By Uche Amunike
Fidelity Bank has met and surpassed its capital raise, Tuesday, right after the combined rights issue and public offer of N127bn was brought to an end.
This disclosure was made by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank, Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe though a statement signed and released by her.
Speaking, through the statement, she noted that Fidelity Bank was the first bank to start its capital raise after the Central Bank of Nigeria gave the directive that every bank in the country should raise fresh capital.
She expressed how elated she was to have met and surpassed the capital raise target that was set by the bank during the first phase of their capital-raise exercise.
Hear her: ‘With the conclusion of the combined offer, I am delighted to announce that we have met and surpassed the capital-raise target we set for ourselves in this first phase of our capital-raise exercise. It is both gratifying and humbling to note this level of investor confidence in the bank.’
‘The proceeds from our combined offer will be deployed to achieving our growth strategy. The funds will be deployed to drive our local and international expansion plans, IT infrastructure development and capital provision for key sectors of the economy.’
She also stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission, all played very important roles in ensuring that the first phase of the bank’s recapitalization plans were seamlessly executed.
The bank had a combined offer for intending investors to purchase 10 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each via public offer and 4.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each via rights issues. The offer, which was meant to end on July 29, was extended by 14 days, which expired on Monday, August 14th, 2024 after the bank received approval from SEC to extend it and increase the number of offered shares to cater for an over subscription.
After the extended offering, Fidelity Bank issued extra N8.2bn shares. Out of it, 5 billion shares were sold in public offer, while 3.2 billion were sold in the rights issues. In all, the bank issued 21.4 billion shares, including 15 billion shares through a rights issue and 6.4 billion shares through a rights issue.
As it stands, there is no information on how much was raised. However, the email sent to investors confirmed that the initial N127.1 billion target was surpassed. With a paid-up share capital of N129.705, Fidelity Bank needs an extra paid-up capital of N307.295bn to keep its international banking license. After the confirmation that the bank surpassed its target in the first phase of the capital-raising effort with N127.1bn, their targeted capital-raise was reduced to N243.195bn.
Meanwhile, ongoing capital raises in the market have dropped to three, namely Zenith Bank, FCMB Group and Access Holdings, totaling about N751.9bn, with Fidelity Bank and GTCO out of the market.
Even though Access Holdings’ rights issue started a week earlier than GTCO’s public offer, GTCO has closed their offer, while Access Holdings sought an extension.
Presently, banks with international banking licenses have led capital-raising efforts, even as they need to raise a cumulative of N2.36 trillion to meet up with the new minimum capital requirement before the March 2026 deadline.
Life and Times Media Group was a key partner with Fidelity in reaching out to Diaspora Nigerians, who showed up strong to ensure the bank’s success in this share subscription exercise.
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank
Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe
