FBN Holdings Abruptly Cancels N300bn Capital Raise Meeting As Board Holds Emergency Session

The Extraordinary General Meeting called by FBN Holdings to seek shareholders’ approval to raise N300bn has been canceled.

A notice on Friday filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited said the special meeting has been cancelled with reasons not given.

“The Extraordinary General Meeting of the members of FBN Holdings Pic (the “Company”), earlier scheduled to be held virtually on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at 10 a.m for the consideration and authorization of the Company to undertake a Capital raise of up to N300bn and other ancillary matters is hereby cancelled,” the statement read.

Last week, FBN Holdings in a notice of its Extraordinary General Meeting filed with the NGX disclosed that it would be seeking shareholders’ approval to raise N300bn additional capital.

According to the notice, shareholders will consider and vote on the special business “that the company be and is hereby authorised to undertake a capital raise of up to N300,000,000,000.00.”

The financial institution proposed to raise the funds via a public offering, private placement, or rights issue in the Nigerian or international capital markets.

The capital raise came barely weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria directed Banks to recapitalise.

Also, the board of First Bank is currently meeting at the bank’s headquarters over the sudden resignation of the Managing Director of the bank, Adesola Adeduntan.

TheNigeriaLawyer reported Mr Adeduntan’s resignation, eight months before he was due to retire from office when his tenure would have been completed.

“I have however decided to proceed on retirement with effect from 20 April 2024 to pursue other interests,” he said in a copy of his resignation letter.

Mr Adeduntan attended Saturday’s board meeting, expected to be his last as the MD of the bank, a senior official of the bank told this newspaper. The meeting was still ongoing at the time of this report.