Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The trading of shares of Continental Reinsurance by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been temporarily stopped effect from Monday, December 31, 2018.
Late 2018, the board of Continental Reinsurance had said it received an offer from its major shareholder, CRe African Investments Limited, to acquire all outstanding and issued shares of Continental Reinsurance held by minority shareholders of the firm through a Scheme of Arrangement under Section 539 of the Companies & Allied Matters Act Cap C20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and other applicable rules and regulations.
It was learnt that the suspension of the company’s shares was to determine those who will qualify to receive the scheme consideration following the resolutions passed by the shareholders of Continental Reinsurance at the court-ordered meeting held two weeks ago in Lagos.
CRe Investments had offered N2.04 per share for the 10,372,744,314 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each or one ordinary shares of $1 each in the capital of CRe Investments for every 176 ordinary share of 50 kobo each held in Continental Reinsurance.
However, the scheme consideration was revised upwards to N2.10 per share, with the new price representing 51.08 percent premium on the share price of Continental Reinsurance as at the close of trading on October 5, 2018, which was the last business day prior to the date on which the proposal was received from CRe African Investments Limited.
According to the acting scribe of Continental Reinsurance, Ms Patricia Ifewulu, at the conclusion of the poll voting at the meeting, 92.66 percent of the votes were in favour of the resolution approving the scheme of arrangement.
Ms Ifewulu noted that an application has been submitted for the final approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), subsequent to which an application will be submitted to the Federal High Court for the sanction of the scheme.
She said the effective date of the scheme will be the date on which the court sanction is filed at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); which, as stated in the scheme document, is scheduled to occur on January 4, 2019. According to the board of Continental Reinsurance, CRe Investments is making the offer to initiate a much-needed restructuring for the firm to consolidate its operations and repositioning it for enhanced competitiveness in the global insurance market.
