By Dipo Olowookere
Shareholders of GTBank Plc are in Lagos to take a decision on the proposal of the board of the company to restructure the firm to a financial holding company (Holdco).
The meeting, Business Post gathered, has commenced as at press time and the investors are in high spirits and from what we can deduce, it will likely see the light of the day.
The shareholders are gathering at the Oriental Hotel on 3, Lekki Road, Victoria Island, Lagos, to make a decision that will change the organisation structure of the company as directed by a federal high court.
The board is seeking the approval of shareholders of the company for the transfer of the 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the issued and paid-up share capital of the bank held by them to GT Holding Company Plc in exchange for the allotment of 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the share capital of the Holdco to the shareholders in the same proportion to their shareholding in the bank credited as fully paid without any further act or deed.
If this is authorised, the present GTBank will be delisted from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and re-listed as GT Holdco. The bank will then become a subsidiary of the new structure and operate as a private company.
The new firm, GT Holding Company, will be able to diversify and do different businesses available in the financial sector.
Before now, GTBank was only limited to its core business, banking after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks to stop operating other businesses different from banking.
In September, the Managing Director of GTBank, Mr Segun Agbaje, had informed analysts that GT Holdco will operate an asset management company, Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), a payments company and the banking business.
However, he had said the banking arm will be split into three and will comprise GTBank Nigeria, GTBank East Africa and GTBank West Africa.
“On the Holdco structure, arrangements are going very well and as you know, it is a financial holding structure, which means we will need regulatory approval from the central bank, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and other areas we do business,” Mr Agbaje had said at the event.
Adedapo Adesanya