NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 14 – Standard Chartered Bank has announced a 61 percent oversubscription in its Rights Issue where it was seeking to raise Sh2.5 billion.
The bank received an application of 24.3 million shares against the 15.1 million that were on offer. The number of new shares accepted under entitlement was 13.9 million with a total value of Sh2.3 billion, representing an uptake of 92.12 percent.
“The 1.9 million shares that were not taken up during the Rights Issue were put on offer and an application for 10.3 million shares worth Sh1.79 billion was received,” said a statement from the bank.
Standard Chartered Securities, the lead transaction advisor said the issue elicited significant interest buoyed by the fact that the principal shareholders confirmed that they would take up their Rights on the launch day.
Job Kihumba the Executive Director of Standard Investment Bank which was the lead sponsoring stockbroker said the success of the issue buoyed by the price offer of Sh165.45, demonstrated the high demand in the market and was also indication of the confidence that shareholders have in the bank.
“The move by the principal shareholders to exercise their right sent a very positive signal to the market and more significantly, the share price stayed above the Rights Issue price by a reasonable margin. We are pleased to note that there is significant interest building in the equities market and issues,” Mr Kihumba pointed out.
Proceeds from the issue will go towards the implementation of Stanchart’s growth strategy and capitalisation plans, said Chief Executive Officer Richard Etemesi.
“This is a great achievement for us and we would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support for our mission. Significantly, this news also follows the positive half-year financial results which we reported recently. We are very excited and this is a good indication that SCB’s growth plans particularly in the securities business are right on track,” he added.
The dispatch of the Share Certificates, refund cheques via agents and electronic crediting of CDS accounts of the new shares will be affected from October 25 2010.
The share certificates will be dispatched to the authorised agents for collection by the investors.
The new shares will be listed and commence trading on the Nairobi Stock Exchange will on October 29, 2010.
