Economy
UAC Shareholders to Meet for Transfer of UPDC REIT Stocks
By Dipo Olowookere
On Monday, September 20, 2021, shareholders of UAC Nigeria Plc will gather for a court-ordered meeting (COM) to decide on what to do with the shares of the company in UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
Business Post reports that on Friday, July 23, 2021, the company obtained an order from a federal high court to convey a meeting of shareholders concerning the subject matter.
As part of a strategic review in 2018, the board and management of UAC Plc agreed that in the best interest of the company and to deliver more value to shareholders, it was necessary for the organisation to exit from its investments in the real estate sector in order to focus on the sectors that align with its core strategy.
UAC has the aim to generate attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns for investors by growing its businesses into market leaders in their respective segments.
But because it was getting involved in different sectors, achieving this target was becoming difficult and it felt it was necessary to trim its operations to its core area of expertise.
The firm operates in animal feeds and edible oils, packaged food and beverages, paints, logistics, quick service restaurants (QSR) and real estate through UPDC Plc.
In 2020, UAC, as part of the unbundling strategy, reduced its ownership in UPDC from 93.86 per cent to 42.85 per cent following the sale of a 51 per cent stake to Custodian Investment Plc.
Last year, UPDC embarked on a process of unbundling its holdings in UPDC REIT to all its shareholders to maximise returns to its investors by providing direct access to the steady and regular dividend distributions of UPDC REIT as well as improving trading liquidity in UPDC REIT units.
As a result, UPDC transferred 649,392,661 units of UPDC REIT stocks to UAC, which still remains as one of its shareholders.
The board of UAC wants to transfer the 649,392,661 units of UPDC REIT shares it received from UPDC to its shareholders, necessitating the COM to be held in a month’s time.
At the meeting to be held virtually at 10:00 am, shareholders would be expected to approve “the transfer of the units held by the company in UPDC REIT to the eligible shareholders of the company (as defined in the scheme document) based on the application of the allocation ratio as specified in the scheme document.”
Business Post gathered the transfer of UPDC REIT units to UAC shareholders will be implemented through a scheme of arrangement under Section 715 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020 as amended, incorporating a reduction in share capital under Section 131 of CAMA (the Scheme). The effect of this is that the units of UAC in UPDC REIT will be transferred to shareholders, pro-rata to their shareholding in UAC.
If the scheme is approved and when it is implemented, UAC’s shareholders will hold UPDC REIT units in addition to their existing shares in UAC and UAC will cease to be a unitholder in UPDC REIT.
This means UAC will no longer be a direct shareholder in UPDC REIT but eligible shareholders of UAC will become the direct shareholder of UPDC REIT.
As a result, the share capital account of UAC will reduce by N3,896,355,966, being the value of the transferred units through the reduction of its share premium account and the share premium deduction amount shall be transferred into the UPDC REIT unbundling liability account.
UAC has said a day after the COM, it should file the resolutions with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and on October 20, the formal approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to be obtained and on November 4, a sanction of the scheme should be obtained from the court, while a day after, the Certified True Copy (CTC) should be sent to SEC.
It stated that after the last trading day to qualify for the scheme (eligibility date) on November 8, it would register the CTC of the court sanction at the CAC on November 11 and the next day, this would be published in two national newspapers and on November 18, the accounts of the eligible shareholders would be credited with the corresponding number of shares and on November 22, the summary report would be filed with SEC.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.
Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.
Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.
There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.
According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.
The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.
The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.
On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).
However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.
The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.
The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.
Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
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