Access Holdings to raise N40bn via private placement

Access Holdings, the parent company of Access Bank, is set to seek shareholders’ approval to raise about N40bn via private placement.

This plan was disclosed in a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, indicating that a virtual Extraordinary General Meeting would be held to obtain shareholders’ approval.

The PUNCH reports that Access Holdings Plc in December 2024 announced that it had raised about N351.01bn. This development led to the company’s flagship subsidiary, Access Bank Plc, emerging as the first bank to meet the CBN’s N500bn minimum capital requirements for banks with international authorisation well ahead of the March 2026 regulatory deadline.

The corporate filing partly read: “THAT in compliance with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, the Investments and Securities Act, 2025, the Rulebook of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the regulations and directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (applicable to the Company as a licensed Financial Holding Company) and the Company’s Articles of Association:

“The Company is and is hereby authorised to raise additional capital of up to N40,000,000,000.00 or such other amount or its equivalent in foreign currencies as the Board of Directors may determine, through a private placement.

“That the issued share capital of the Company be and is hereby increased from N26,658,919,216.50 (Twenty-Six Billion, Six Hundred and Fifty-Eight Million, Nine Hundred and Nineteen Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixteen Naira, Fifty Kobo only) divided into 53,317,838,433 (Fifty-Three Billion, Three Hundred and Seventeen Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty-Three) ordinary shares of N0.50 (Fifty Kobo) each to N27,646,573,537 (Twenty-Seven Billion, Six Hundred and Forty-Six Million, Five Hundred and Seventy-Three Thousand, Five Hundred and Thirty-Seven Naira) divided into 55,293,147,074 (Fifty-Five Billion, Two Hundred and Ninety-Three Million, One Hundred and Forty-Seven Thousand, Seventy-Four) ordinary shares of N0.50 (Fifty Kobo) each by the creation and addition of 1,975,308,641 (One Billion, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five Million, Three Hundred and Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty-One) ordinary shares of N0.50 (Fifty Kobo) each ranking pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of the Company, and that the Board (where it deems appropriate) be authorised to take the necessary steps to cancel any unallotted shares of the company or to further increase the share capital of the Company to an amount sufficient to accommodate any transaction undertaken by the Company to raise additional equity capital pursuant to the foregoing resolution or pursuant to the capital raising programme of the company.”

Access Holdings added that approval would also be sought to allot the new ordinary shares created in connection with the private placement, at a price of N20.25 or as otherwise determined by the board, to one or more investors.

This price is lower than the N21 at which the company’s shares closed trading on Thursday.