LASACO Assurance to Cut Shares to 1.83bn from 7.33bn, Raise Fresh N11bn

By Dipo Olowookere

The share reconstruction exercise proposed by the board of LASACO Assurance Plc has been approved by shareholders of the company at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Tuesday, October 8, 2019.

The insurance firm wants to reduce its share capital with the reconstruction of the existing shares of 7,334,344 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to one new share for every four shares previously held by investors, bringing the new total to 1,833,586,000 ordinary shares.

But to make this happen, the company had to get authorisation of shareholders at the AGM, which was finally received during the meeting.

It was said that the sum of N2.75 billion representing the surplus nominal value of the reconstructed shares be transferred into the share reserve account and form part of the shareholders’ funds of the company.

“That the reconstructed 1.834 billion ordinary shares of 50k each, be revalued in accordance with the ratio of reconstruction, subject to appropriate regulatory consent and be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange,” the firm said in a disclosure to the stock exchange,” it added.

Apart from this, the insurer also got the nod of investors to raising additional capital of N11.1 billion through either private placement or special placement. This would be done by creating additional 9.3 billion units of the company’s shares.

In the notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), LASACO Assurance said shareholders at the AGM this week “authorized the directors subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities to raise additional capital through the issuance of up to 9,250,000,000 ordinary shares of N0.50k each at N1.20k per share by way of special/private placement.”

In addition, the investors said the “shares to be issued pursuant to the above resolution and the rights attaching thereto shall rank parri passu with ordinary shares held by the existing members of the company.”

Also. They were authorized “to exercise all the powers of the company to modify and or conclude the terms of the special/private placement, seek approvals” of the regulatory agencies.