Capital Base: Omegabank to Raise N25bn
By Uche Obike and Tunyosola Ayansiji
Omegabank Plc has embarked on aggressive drive to meet the new Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) requirement of N25 billion capital base for banks operating in Nigeria.
The notice of Annual General Meeting recently circulated to the shareholders by the bank revealed that Omegabank will be seeking the approval of the investors to "increase its Authorised Share Capital from N2 billion divided into four billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo to N25 billion divided into 50 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each by the creation of 46 billion additional shares of 50 kobo each or any fraction thereof and such new shares shall rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of the bank."
The bank will also request the shareholders "to authorise the directors to issue at a date to be determined by the directors a minimum of 46 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each ranking pari passu with the existing shares of the bank and are further authorised to determine the allocation of the said shares as between bonus issues and/or rights issues and /or public issues or any method subject to the approval of the appropriate authorities."
In addition, the notice also showed that the bank would the shareholders approve that "in the event of rights issue of the additional shares, the directors be and are hereby authorised to dispose of any share not taken up by any shareholders and offer same at the approved price per ordinary share to any other shareholder willing to take up additional shares from the rights issue and that any share not taken by members be warehoused and subsequently offered on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
It could be recalled that the bank recently recorded 102 per cent subscription in its rights issue of 1.033 billion ordinary shares at N1.20 per unit.
Recent developments in the Nigerian economy had gingered the bank towards raising its capital requirement for business. It is expected that the shareholders at the company's forthcoming Annual General Meeting will give the go-ahead for Omegabank retain its net earnings in the period under review as reserves; and also allowed the bank to be recapitalised through rights issue and public offer for subscription.
Dr. Rotimi Adelola, Group Head, Strategic Planning, recently expressed that confident that despite the tougher regulations, a generally dull economy and an unpredictable political environment, these factors offer limitless opportunities, which Omegabank was eminently positioned to harness.
He said that it was part of the new strategic initiative to building an institution that will stand the test of time and surmount the vicissitudes of a perennially inclement environment.
Adelola said that because in the life of an organisation there is always the need to pause and rethink core strategies and processes. Omegabank embarked upon such programmes towards the end of year 2002 through the Organisation Revitalisation Project (OREP) to prepare the bank for the greater challenges of the future.
"The policy is that every staff must attend at least two training programmes in a year customer service training is a compulsory module. In the course of the year, staff were trained in Credit Risk Management, Asset and Liability Management, Leasing, Banking Operations, International Trade Finance, Marketing, Professional Selling, Business Communication, Supervisory Management, Continuous Process Improvement, Customer Service Excellence, among other key training and development programmes," he said.
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