GTBANK TO BE REMOVE FROM NIGERIA AND LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE AFTER BECOMING FINANCIAL HOLDING COMPANY
With this present restructure of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc into a financial holding company had made headway with the information reaching Daily Global News.
GTBank inform the public on Wednesday that the Central Bank of Nigeria has given the Bank an approval in principle with no objection from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to restructure the company in holding company.
The notice signed by the scribe of GTBank, Erhi Obebeduo, after the exercise has been done, GTBank, will now become subsidiary of the new entity and will be removed from both Nigerian and London Stock Exchange, where shares of the bank are currently being traded.
On Thursday at the local exchange equities of GTBank was 15 kobo or 0.47 per cent to N32.25 each as at the time of this report.
The management explained that the banking arm of the hold company will be re-registered as a private limited liability company, under the Nigerian law relevant to that.
A deal will be reached with shareholders of GTBank for the exchange of the bank’s stocks for the stock of the new financial holding company through a Federal High Court order in Nigeria for such a meeting between shareholders of GTBank and the new financial holding company for exchange of stocks.
From the disclosure, “under the restructuring, it is proposed that the issued shares in the bank be exchanged on a one-for-one basis for the shares in a financial holding company.
“The bank’s existing Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) are also proposed to be exchanged one a one-for-one basis for new GDRs to be issued by the financial holding company.”
GTBank explained that the holding company will have an “organisational structure similar to that used by a significant number of major financial institutions” in the world and will be “regulated by the CBN,” the banking watchdog in Nigeria.
The lender further explained that the new arrangement is expected to create more value for the company and the shareholders as the “the board of directors of GTBank made the decision to embark on the restructuring following a comprehensive strategic evaluation of the operating and competitive environment of the Nigerian banking sector in the near term.”
“The board expects that the financial holding company will have greater strategic flexibility to adapt to future business opportunities as well as market and regulatory changes than is currently the case,” it said.
