By Ngozi Onyeakusi– Following a successful completion of the Rights Issue Offer of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, the Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) has given to the underwriting firm approval to make public to the company’s shareholders and other related parties the result of the offer which ended on August 21, 2019, after it was extended at the expiration of its initial closing date of July 31, 2019.

A statement by Deputy General Manager, Sales and Corporate Communications of the underwriting firm, Segun Bankole, said it will be recalled that a total of 4,170,411,648 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 50 kobo per share on the basis of (1) new ordinary share for every (2) ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held in the Company as at the close of register on January 15, 2019 was placed on offer to the Company’s shareholders.

At the close of the Offer period, a total of 110 (one hundred and ten) acceptance forms for 3,053,642,718 ordinary shares of the Rights Issue were received out of which, 108, (one hundred and eight) forms were found to be valid and accepted while 2 application forms were rejected as the buyers did not qualified for the shares as at the qualification date. In all, the Rights Issue offer was 72.50 per cent subscribed which has been considered quite commendable by industry watchers considering the bearish nature of insurance stocks in the market in recent times.

A further breakdown of the basis of allotment shows that 99 shareholders fully accepted their rights totaling 1,262,022,678 ordinary shares, 9 shareholders with provisional allotment of 25,573,204 ordinary shares partially accepted their rights totaling 6,430,000 ordinary shares while renouncing a total of 19,143,204 ordinary shares. No applications were traded on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange during the period of the Offer.

Spokesperson for Sovereign Trust, Segun Bankole stated that a total of 2,882,815,766 ordinary shares were fully renounced, while a total of 19,143,204 ordinary shares were partially renounced, bringing a total number of renounced ordinary shares to 2,901,958,970. Out of the 99 shareholders that accepted their rights in full, 57 shareholders applied for additional 1,755,190,040 ordinary shares and were allotted in full.

The un-allotted shares totaling 1,146,768,930 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each shall revert to the company’s Authorized Share Capital.

Consequently, the Management of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has notified all Shareholders that the allotment of the rights issue will be communicated by way of e-certificates in the names of all successful shareholders through the Company’s Registrars, Meristem Registrars Limited, 213 Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos, not later than December 24, 2019.

The Managing Director of the Underwriting Firm, Olaotan Soyinka has also reiterated the fact that the company has set a growth agenda which is aimed at positioning the insurance company as one of the top players in the industry, particularly, as the industry prepares for another round of recapitalization in the year 2020. He equally noted that the company is committed to creating exceptional value to all its Shareholders.