Economy
Two Investors Inject N4.8bn into Mutual Benefits Assurance
By Dipo Olowookere
The capital base of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has received a boost of N4.8 billion with the issuance of fresh shares of the company to two investors.
The company, operating in the tough Nigerian insurance industry, sold the new stocks to two investors through a private placement.
The injection of the funds into the organisation aligns with its plans to remain one of the major players in the sector as the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is determined to make the environment better.
The insurance industry in the country has been facing various challenges as a result of religious and superstitious beliefs, which have made people not subscribe to insurance packages or policies.
Also, some operators have not helped matters as they fail to honour their own part of the bargain, especially when it comes to payment of claims to policyholders or their beneficiaries.
In order to make the sector better, NAICOM came up with a recapitalisation plan and this has made some insurance companies consider boosting their capital base and in few cases, go into merger and acquisition.
Under this new dispensation, life insurance firms would be required to meet a minimum paid-up capital of N8 billion, up from N2 billion; general insurance companies are expected to increase their paid-up capital to N10 billion from the earlier N3 billion.
Composite insurance (those that operate both general and life insurance) have been asked to recapitalise to the tune of N18 billion as against the previous amount of N5 billion, while reinsurance businesses are now required to have a minimum capital of N20 billion from N10 billion.
For Mutual Benefits Assurance, seeking more funds is one of the strategies it is adopting and last year, shareholders of the company authorised the board to attract new investors through a private placement.
The firm got two companies interested in the stocks and a total of 8,888,888,889 units of the shares were sold at 54 kobo to Charles Enterprise LL.C and Arubiewe Farms Limited.
Business Post gathered that Charles Enterprises was allotted about 5.3 billion shares for N2.9 billion, while Arubiewe Farms received 3.5 billion shares for N1.9 billion.
Recently, the stockbroker for the transaction, Core Securities, filed an application to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for the listing of the new equities on the exchange.
A document sighted by this newspaper confirmed that the application was approved on April 12, 2021, and any moment from now, the new shares would be listed on the trading platform of the NGX.
By the time this is done, the share outstanding of Mutual Benefits Assurance will increase to 20,061,622,397 from 11,172,733,508.00.
Mutual Benefits Assurance is mainly involved in general and life insurance underwriting (under separate licenses held by the company and its subsidiary respectively), risk management, financial services, microfinance banking and real estate.
The company has progressed into a group with five subsidiary companies namely: Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited, Mutual Benefits Assurance Company Liberia, Mutual Benefits Assurance Niger SA, Mutual Benefits Homes and Properties Limited and Mutual Benefits Microfinance Bank Limited.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rallied by 1.70 per cent on Thursday, June 25, after three price gainers overpowered the two price losers recorded at the close of business.
Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N43.79 billion to N2.618 trillion from N2.574 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 72.96 points to close at 4,362.32 points, in contrast to Wednesday’s 4,289.36 points.
Yesterday, the price advancers were led by Nipco Plc, which chalked up N31.79 to close at N349.76 per unit versus the preceding day’s N317.97 per unit. Okitipupa Plc gained N18.00 to end at N298.00 per share versus the previous session’s N280.00 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N7.11 to N86.79 per unit from N79.68 per unit.
On the flip side, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc crumbled by 32 Kobo to close at N21.09 per share compared with the N21.41 per share it closed at midweek, and Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 25 Kobo to N2.51 per unit from N2.76 per unit.
During the session, the value of securities traded by investors went down by 86.7 per cent to N10.9 million from the preceding session’s N82.9 million, and the volume of securities dropped 84.9 per cent to 10.9 million units from the previous 82.9 million, while the number of deals grew by 84.2 per cent to 35 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.4 million units exchanged for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further suffered a 0.64 per cent decline on Thursday as the bears tightened their grip on the bourse.
For the second straight session, all the key sectors of Customs Street pointed south, with the energy counter down by 5.22 per cent. The insurance index slumped by 2.59 per cent, the banking space depreciated by 0.28 per cent, and the consumer goods segment moderated by 0.06 per cent, while the industrial goods sector was flat, though with a marginal fall.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 1,493.71 points to 233,580.83 points from 235,074.54 points, and the market capitalisation retreated by N959 billion to N149.888 trillion from N150.847 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained weak after a negative market breadth index, as there were 21 price gainers and 34 price losers.
Aradel and Deap Capital went down by 10.00 per cent each to N1,575.00 and N4.05, respectively. Trans-Nationwide Express fell by 9.90 per cent to N3.64, Regency Alliance slipped by 9.57 per cent to N85 Kobo, and C&I Leasing dipped by 9.48 per cent to N28.12.
Conversely, Red Star Express grew by 9.60 per cent to N24.55, Legend Internet expanded by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, Neimeth appreciated by 7.10 per cent to N8.30, Abbey Mortgage Bank rose by 5.45 per cent to N8.70, and Ellah Lakes improved by 4.65 per cent to N9.00.
Yesterday, market participants traded 393.7 million equities valued at N19.2 billion in 45,813 deals compared with the 488.1 million equities worth N20.9 billion transacted in 46,239 deals recorded a day earlier, implying a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 19.34 per cent, 8.13 per cent, and 0.92 per cent, respectively.
The most active stock for the session was Access Holdings with a turnover of 39.1 million units worth N896.2 million, Chams traded 24.5 million units valued at N96.5 million, Fidelity Bank sold 24.1 million units for N436.9 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 23.8 million units valued at N182.2 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 18.9 million units worth N2.1 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a marginal gain of 43 Kobo or 0.03 per cent against the United States Dollar on Wednesday, June 25, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to sell for N1,380.11/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,380.54/$1.
However, the Nigerian currency lost N3.21 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to close at N1,818.84/£1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of N1,815.63/£1, and against the Euro, it fell by N3.21 to trade at N1,566.84/€1 versus midweek’s value of N1,563.63/€1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the Dollar at the GTBank FX deck yesterday by N3 to sell for N1,383/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,380/$1, and at the black market window, it remained unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX turnover at the NFEM window surged by about 56 per cent day-on-day to close at $195.371 million from $125.588 million reported on Wednesday, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Naira continues to feel the impact of rising FX payments and a strong US Dollar amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the central bank, with more than six weeks of no support for the local currency.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves increased further to $51.142 billion, while oil prices continue to be held in the $70 range by developments in the geopolitical scene.
Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin sank below $60,000 as more than $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with longs accounting for $842 million of the damage. About 148,500 traders were wiped out. The largest single position was a $38 million bitcoin-dollar bet on Hyperliquid. It led at $489 million in liquidations and dropped 2.8 per cent to sell at $59,862.61.
Ethereum (ETH) crashed by 5.5 per cent to $1,554.57, Ripple (XRP) declined by 4.8 per cent to $1.03, Cardano (ADA) fell by 4.3 per cent to $0.1433, Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 3.4 per cent to sell at $0.0745, TRON (TRX) slid 2.2 per cent to $0.3215, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.8 per cent to $561.34, and Solana (SOL) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $62.94, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
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