Shareholders approve private placement of unissued Fidelity Bank shares

Leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, has secured the approval of its shareholders to issue, by way of private placement, the unissued ordinary shares of the Bank.

This was approved at the Bank’s Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) which held at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday, 29 September 2022.

Addressing shareholders at the event which had the representatives of various regulators in attendance including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Exchange Group, Securities and Exchange Commission and Corporate Affairs Commission, Mustafa Chike-Obi, Chairman, Fidelity Bank Plc, said the EGM was called to ensure the Bank complies with Section 124 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) and Regulation 13 of the Companies Regulations 2021 which require companies with unissued shares at the time of commencement of CAMA 2020 to issue such shares by December 31, 2022.

“After considering the options, the Board resolved that the Company’s outstanding 3,037,414,308 unissued Ordinary Shares of 50Kobo each should be disposed of by way of Private Placement to strategic investors to enable the Bank generate additional capital for continued growth in line with its objectives” explained Chike-Obi.

“Fidelity Bank is growing in leaps and bounds and we need to expand our capital base to take advantage of emerging opportunities. We will also use the additional capital to enhance our technology infrastructure to enable us serve more customers”, explained Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank.

It would be recalled that the Bank recently paid an interim dividend of 10 Kobo per 50 Kobo ordinary share, the first interim dividend payment in the Bank’s 34 year history, on the back of its remarkable H1 2022 results.

Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 7 million customers serviced across 250 business offices and digital banking channels. The Bank was recently recognized as the Best SME Bank Nigeria 2022 by the Global Banking & Finance Awards. The Bank also won the awards for “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.