DEAP Capital Management & Trust Plc (DEAP) is set for brighter prospects as the company gets new board. The shareholders in an Extra-ordinary General Meeting held last Thursday, August 6, 2015 in Lagos elected new members of board of directors with a clear mandate of steering the company back to profitability.
The move is one of the nine resolutions passed by the investors in the company in a bid to give fresh breath to the firm and rebuild value into it. Part of the strategic turn-around plan is a specific mandated given to the directors to go into negotiations with individual creditors and secure and agreement for the conversion of their non-bank debts to ordinary shares of company at a price to be determined by the directors and agreed with the creditors.
The directors are also to restructure any part of the existing non-bank debts of the company that the creditors are unwilling to convert into ordinary shares in the company, into restructured deposits to be repaid out of the future cash flow of the company over a maximum period of three (3) years starting from January 2016.
The directors are further required to initiate and conclude discussions and negotiations with prospective investors to recapitalize the company through the raising of additional equity from investors. Part of the process will also include entering into discussions with any interested party, company or companies, interested in any scheme of merger, acquisition or any combinations thereof.
The new board also received the authority of the shareholders to, if and when deemed necessary, raise additional capital whether by way of public offering, special/private placement, rights issue or other methods, through issuance of shares, global depository receipts, convertibles or non-convertibles, medium term notes, bonds and or any other instruments.
The offering could be either a stand-alone or by way of a programme, in such tranches, series or proportions, at such coupon or interest rates within such maturity periods, and such terms and conditions including through a book building process or other process; all of which shall be as determined by the board of directors, subject to obtaining the approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities.
The shareholders who were quite pleased at the outcome of the meeting gave approval to the board to in the process appoint credible and competent professional advisers and take such steps as may be necessary to give effect to all the resolutions.
The new board is led by Adelani Kehinde Oniwinde. He holds a doctorate degree in Business Management and a Fellowship of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London. He retired at the level of the Vice Executive Chairman of Niger Insurance Plc., where he worked for 23 years. DEAP Capital was incorporated in 2003 and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2007.
The non-bank debts of the company stood at N2.46 billion as at June 30, 2014. And there are very strong indications that the creditors are quite amenable to converting their debts to ordinary shares, a development that will clean out the books of the company and put it in good stead for enhanced business, profitability, and growth.
