Sovereign Trust Insurance Rakes N1.53bn from N2.09bn Rights Issue

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The N2.09 billion rights issue floated by Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc few months ago recorded 72.50 percent subscription, the company has announced. The means that the firm received offers worth N1.53 billion during the exercise.

A statement issued last week by the Deputy General Manager in charge of Sales & Corporate Communications of the firm, Mr Segun Bankole, stated that of the 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 50 kobo per share on the basis of one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held in the company as at the close of register on January 15, 2019 placed on offer to the company’s shareholders, it received 110 acceptance forms for 3,053,642,718 ordinary shares while the exercise lasted.

According to him, 108 forms were found to be valid and accepted while two application forms were rejected as the buyers did not qualified for the shares as at the qualification date.

He said, “In all, the rights issue offer was 72.50 percent subscribed which has been considered quite commendable by industry watchers considering the bearish nature of insurance stocks in the market in recent times.”

Mr Bankole stated that the underwriter has notified all shareholders that the allotment of the rights issue would be communicated by way of e-certificates in the names of all successful shareholders through the its registrars, Meristem Registrars Limited, not later than December 24, 2019.

Giving a further breakdown of the exercise, he said 99 shareholders fully accepted their rights totalling 1,262,022,678 ordinary shares, 9 shareholders with provisional allotment of 25,573,204 ordinary shares partially accepted their rights totalling 6,430,000 ordinary shares while renouncing a total of 19,143,204 ordinary shares.

Spokesperson for Sovereign Trust, also said a total of 2,882,815,766 ordinary shares were fully renounced, while a total of 19,143,204 ordinary shares were partially renounced, bringing a total number of renounced ordinary shares to 2,901,958,970. Out of the 99 shareholders that accepted their rights in full, 57 shareholders applied for additional 1,755,190,040 ordinary shares and were allotted in full.

He stated that the un-allotted shares totalling 1,146,768,930 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each shall revert to the company’s Authorized Share Capital.

The statement said Managing Director of STI, Mr Olaotan Soyinka, has reiterated the fact that the company has set a growth agenda which is aimed at positioning the insurance company as one of the top players in the industry, particularly, as the industry prepares for another round of recapitalisation in the year 2020.  He equally noted that the company was committed to creating exceptional value to all its shareholders.

Recall that Sovereign Trust Insurance had initially fixed July 31, 2019 for closing date of the rights issue, but it later obtained an approval from regulator to extend the exercise to August 21, 2019.