First Bank, Others to Raise N1.2 Trillion

First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, are set to float N1.2 trillion bonds from the nation’s capital market.
First Bank of Nigeria has concluded plans to raise N500 billion, while Zenith, Diamond and GTB are planning to raise N300 billion, N200 billion and N200 billion respectively.
First Bank and Diamond Bank have already received approvals from both the shareholders and appropriate regulatory authorities to float the bond, while Zenith Bank will on October 30 seek approval from its shareholders to raise fresh capital up to N300 billion ($2 billion) at an extraordinary general meeting.
GTB has also received the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nod to source for N200 billion bonds.
Olabisi Onasanya, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, First Bank Plc, said the bond would be primarily used to finance long term projects.
He explained that the bank has discovered that government alone cannot provide the finance necessary for the development and building of required infrastructures in the country.
Onasanya said the board would ensure that the bond would not be convertible to shares in order not to dilute the interest of shareholders.
“As we have discovered that the attempt by stakeholders to leave the government alone to develop the infrastructures in the past has not helped matters as most of the existing infrastructures have gone worst due to long years of neglect and new ones were rarely built, the bank has decided to participate in financing this aspect of the economy to develop the entire economy. These are long term projects and the bank will be able to use proceeds from the bond to finance these projects for the benefit of all Nigerians and the economy as a whole,” he said.
The bond will be used to restructure the bank’s balance sheet in a way that the bank will no longer use the short and medium term funds for long term projects.
Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, the deputy governor nominee of the Central Bank of Nigeria for financial surveillance, disclosed that the next port of call in the on-going cleansing are the mortgage and micro finance banks, even as he warned that it would no longer be business as usual in the operation of the commercial banks and other financial institutions in the country.
He assured that this time the apex bank will be proactive and not reactive so as to prevent what happened in the banks from repeating itself.
However, Moghalu, disclosed that the CBN would now beam its searchlight on the mortgage and micro finance banks, saying that there is every indication that the two specialised banks have derailed.