Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Additional 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc have been listed on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The shares were created from the rights issue for shareholders of the insurance company at 50 kobo per unit based on one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares held as at January 15, 2019.
They were admitted on the trading platform of the NSE on Monday, December 23, 2019 after they were approved and registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the apex capital market regulator in Nigeria.
Sovereign Trust Insurance used the exercise to raise fresh funds to enable it carry out its operations smoothly and as well help it meet up with the new capital requirements set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Business Post reports that the rights issue recorded 72.50 percent subscription rate. The company had hoped to get about N2.09 billion from the exercise, but it ended up with the sum of N1.53 billion.
During the rights issue, the underwriter received 110 acceptance forms for 3,053,642,718 ordinary shares and 108 forms were found to be valid and accepted while two application forms were rejected as the buyers did not qualified for the shares as at the qualification date.
In a circular to dealing members today, the NSE said “additional 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc were today, December 23, 2019, listed on the daily official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“The additional shares listed arose from the company’s rights issue of 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N0.50 per share based on one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares held as at January 15, 2019.
“Please, note that at the close of the offer period, the rights issue was 72.50 percent subscribed and the additional ordinary shares thus listed have been registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
It further said, “With this listing of the additional 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid up shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has now increased from 8,340,823,296 to 12,511,234,944 ordinary shares.”
