FSL Securities Limited, a foremost Nigerian investment bank, has successfully listed new 3,037,414,308 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each on the Nigerian Exchange Limited. The new shares were issued to investors via private placement, with FSL Securities Limited as the Stockbroker to the Issue.
The Nigerian Exchange Regulation (NGX) confirmed the listing in a Letter to Chris Okenwa, the Group Managing Director of FSL Securities Limited and signed by Godstime Iwenekhai, the head of listings regulation department at the NGX.
“Following the submission of all post-approval documents and your letters of undertaking dated 09 August 2023, please be informed that Fidelity Bank Plc’s private placement of 3,037,414,308 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N4.60 per share was formally listed on the Daily Official List of Nigerian Exchange Limited today, Friday, 11 August 2023,” the approval letter said.
Private placement is a funding round of securities that are sold not through a public offering, but rather through a private offering, mostly to a small number of chosen investors. As the name suggests, a “private placement” is a private alternative to issuing, or selling, a publicly offered security as a means for raising capital.
“The success of the private placement is a demonstration of the confidence that investors have on Fidelity Bank given that the shares were fully subscribed” Okenwa said in a mailed response. “Investors had been yearning for the shares of the Bank because they see that Fidelity Bank has strong earnings potential.”
Fidelity Bank stock is rated BUY by many research analysts tracking the performance of companies on the Nigerian Bourse.
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For instance, Lagos-based Futureview research analysts want investors to buy Fidelity Bank saying that it will return at least 10percent above the current market price over the next 12 months.
At the bank’s 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Tuesday, May 23, the shareholders of Fidelity Bank commended the board and management of the bank for delivering an exceptional performance in the full year 2022.
According to the bank’s 2022 annual report uploaded on its website and distributed to shareholders, the bank grew by double digits along all the major indicators.
Customer deposits increased by 27.4 percent from N2 trillion in 2021FY to N2.6 trillion. Net Loans and Advances rose by 27.6 percent from N1.7 trillion in 2021FY to N2.1 trillion in 2022 FY.
Total Assets grew by 21.6 percent from N3.3 trillion in 2021 FY to N4 trillion in the period under review. Listed companies’ half-year (H1) earnings season will commence soon.
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