By Dipo Olowookere
Shares of Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc are now being traded on the trading platform of National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Over-The-Counter (OTC) Exchange.
The insurance firm was admitted on the trading platform on Tuesday, August 27, 2019, allowing it to trade its shares at the exchange.
GNI joined NASD after it was delisted on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The delisting was requested for by the board of the insurer.
It was gathered that the shares of GNI were introduced to the OTC exchange by Greewhich Trust Limited by way of security admission.
According to NASD, “Shareholders in the company can commence dematerialization through Greenwhich Registrars and Data Solutions.”
Business Post reports that NASD is the promoter of a trading network that facilitates secondary market trading of all securities of publicly listed companies primarily in Nigeria.
The agency, while welcoming Great Nigeria Insurance to its market, promised to “continue to lend its support in always creating liquidity…transparently.”
Explaining the rationale behind leaving the NSE, Business Post recalled that the board had said over the last five years, there had been little or no trading activity on the shares held by the minority shareholders, pointing out that there had also been a considerable fall in trading volumes over the last 12 months with an average daily volume of around 1,200 shares during the period between March 2017 to March 2018.
The board had argued that shareholders were not benefiting from the continued listing as shareholders were not getting any exit opportunity and their investments have been locked up and they found it difficult to dispose of their shareholding, adding that the company has also not benefitted from the continuing listing as its shares continued to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value.
Adedapo Adesanya