Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), has unveiled its planned to raise 9,000,000,000 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo at an offer price of N44.50 per ordinary shares on the floor of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
The amount to be raised translated into N400.5 billion ordinary shares the Group planned to raise from investing public through public offering.
Addressing stockbrokers yesterday during “Facts Behind the Offer Presentation” the Group Managing Director, GTCO, Mr. Segun Agbaje stated that the Group was planning to raise capital before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announcement this year, stressing that the Naira devaluation has weaken the assets of banks operating in the country.
He expressed optimism that the Group would become the first financial institution to reach a $1 billion in profit.
“We want a market capitalisation that Nigeria will be proud of. There is no Nigerian company that has ever made a $1 billion in profit and we are going to be the first to achieve it,” he said.
Speaking to the capital market community on the rationale behind the offer, he said, “Banks need equity. We’ve just gone through about a 200per cent devaluation of the Naira. The balance sheets of banks have shrunk and as the ability to do business has reduced.
“With the Federal Government also saying he wants a $1 trillion economy; you are not going to achieve a $1 trillion economy at this size of banks if you do not raise capital.Banks needs to capitalised to support government $1 trillion target.
“So, we are not only raising capital because the central bank asked us to do it. You might not believe me, but we had decided before that we were going to raise capital and that we were going to pivot this organization for transformational growth.”
