International Breweries to Sell Rights Issue at N9 Per Share

By Dipo Olowookere

The board of International Breweries Plc has fixed N9 per share for the rights issue it proposed to shareholders of the company at its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Tuesday.

At the meeting held in Lagos, the company’s investors gave the board the approval to carry out this exercise, with further authorisation given to the board on the listing of the rights issue on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

International Breweries hopes to raise fresh capital up to N165 billion through rights issue.

At Tuesday’s meeting, shareholders approved the resolution, “That, subject to obtaining the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities, the directors be and are hereby authorized to raise additional capital of up to N165,000,000,000.00 by way of a rights issue of ordinary shares to the company’s shareholders (Rights Issue) and that the rights issue be executed at such price, time and on such other terms and other conditions as the directors may deem fit.”

In a notice dated Wednesday, October 16, 2019, the board said, “International Breweries Plc hereby notifies the Nigerian Stock Exchange that the shareholders of the company at the general meeting held on October 15, 2019 approved the rights issue as proposed by the board of directors and authorized the board to take all steps required to give effect to the resolutions as approved.

“Following this approval, the board of directors discussed the forthcoming rights issue and the proposed terms thereof and approved a rights issue price of N9.00 per share.

“Further details on the Rights Issue will be provided in due course,” the disclosure said.

International Breweries competes in the Nigerian beer industry with giants like Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc amongst others. The sector, since federal government introduced a new excise duty regime, has been plagued with poor performance and each of the players fighting to control the market.

It is presumed that the injection of fresh funds into International Breweries would help the company expand its reach in the market.