By Chinwendu Obienyi, Lagos
The Nigerian Exchange Group Plc has said it intends to list its shares on the Main Board of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
The planned listing follows the successful completion of the demutualisation and restructuring of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and its related operations within the NGX Group.
The group, in a statement on Thursday, noted that its shares are expected to commence trading on NGX following their Listing by an introduction and added that regulatory requirements have been fulfilled and the listing has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria.
A total of 1,964,115,918 shares are expected to be admitted to trading and the shares will trade under the ticker NGXGROUP.
Speaking on the development, the Group Managing Director, NGX Group, Oscar Onyema, said that the group intends to move ahead with its Listing by Introduction on the Main Board of NGX Exchange and added that together with many other listed companies, the NGX Group will take advantage of the strategic opportunities open to quoted companies in Nigeria.
‘As a listed entity, the Group will have access to the widest range of new investors, including the growing pool of institutional investors. Demutualisation has created many new possibilities for The Group and our listing is just one more step in our evolution.
‘We are confident that as a demutualised entity, we will pursue value-creative growth initiatives and with this step, we believe that this will have a better capacity for better capital raising and improve market liquidity,’ Onyema said.
Corroborating Onyema, the Group Chairman, NGX Group, Abimbola Ogunbanjo, stated that the Group expects the listing to bring significant benefits to its business and its stakeholders.
Ogunbanjo said the NGX Group will enhance its strategic flexibility by creating new financing opportunities and partnership possibilities while diversifying its shareholder base.
‘This milestone will open up The Group’s capital to new investors within the Nigerian investing public as well as international institutions thereby reinforcing NGX Group’s presence in international capital markets, and for its current long-term shareholders it will create the possibility to realise value,’ he noted.
The stockbrokers to the listing of NGX Group are Chapel Hill Denham Securities Limited, and RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers Limited, while the Issuing House(s)/financial adviser(s) are Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited.