Sovereign Trust Insurance plc has secured the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend its ongoing rights issue to March 13, 2015. The offer, which opened on Wednesday, February 14, 2015, was to close on February 20, 2015.
Sovereign Trust is offering 2,290,585,798, (two billion two hundred and ninety million, five hundred and eighty-five thousand, seven hundred and ninety-eight) units of ordinary shares at 50 kobo each to existing shareholders based on one (1) new ordinary share for every three (3) ordinary shares of 50 kobo held in the company at the close of the register during the last annual general meeting.
According to the official statement made available to the press by the spokesperson for the organisation, Segun Bankole, the extension was necessitated to allow shareholders time to subscribe fully to the offer.
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Such opportunity does not come often, which informs the decision of the management to request for an extension in the closing date of the offer, he said.
Consequently, the management enjoins all shareholders to take advantage of this extension in date to fully exercise their rights as that will guarantee the consolidation of their own in one of Nigeria’s dynamic underwriting firms, according to Bankole, saying “the company, more than ever before, is poised to take the insurance business to a greater height as it gravitates to the next phase of its growth agenda.”
The management has also appealed to all shareholders who may be having one challenge or the other in getting their rights issue circular to get in touch with Meristem Registrars electronically or seek advice and consultation from their respective stockbrokers and other professional advisers, as the case may be.
Wale Onaolapo, managing director of the firm, said the company had set a growth agenda, which is aimed at positioning the insurance company as one of the top players in the industry, particularly, in the oil and gas sector where it had developed very unique expertise and professionalism.
Onaolapo, therefore, called on shareholders to lend their support to the rights issue with the new date extension, saying the actualisation of the set objectives of the growth agenda of the company remained sacrosanct. The company is committed to creating exceptional value for all its shareholders, he said.
“In achieving the huge tasks that have been placed before us, we have identified that a very robust capital base is critical to the success of the set agenda; hence, the need to call on our shareholders to fully subscribe to the rights issue.”
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