By Dipo Olowookere
The management of C&I Leasing Plc has disclosed that managers of the Aureos Africa Fund, Abraaj, have agreed to convert the $10 million loan stock in the quoted company to equity.
C&I Leasing trades its shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and in a statement issued today, the firm said the conversion of the debt to equity will bring about positive development to the company.
Business Post reports that the $10 million unsecured, coupon redeemable and convertible loan stock in C & I Leasing matured in 2018.
It was during a meeting of the board of directors of C & I Leasing in December 2018 in Lagos that representatives of Abraaj confirmed their intention to covert the debts to shares of the company.
According to the MD/CEO of the service conglomerate, Mr Andrew Otike-Odibi, “This development is positive for our business as it improves the capital structure of the company and helps position it favourably for additional capital raise from the market in Q1 2019.”
Recall that last month, C&I Leasing announced its intention to restructure the firm’s issued and paid-up share capital, consolidating every four ordinary shares currently held to one new share in the company.
It was explained that the purpose of the reconstruction was to allow the company to have enough unissued shares to accommodate the conversion of the Abraaj loan stock to ordinary shares and to raise additional capital through the capital market for business expansion.
C&I Leasing has been in operation for over two decades and has since evolved from being a simple finance leasing company licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 1991 to becoming a diversified leasing and business service conglomerate providing support services to various indigenous and multinational organizations in West Africa along three lines: Fleet Management, Personnel Outsourcing and Marine Services.
The C&I Leasing group of companies has its operational offices in Lagos, Benin, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Enugu and Abuja.
Adedapo Adesanya