Unilever increases shares to 5.5bn with additional listing

With the listing of fresh 1,961,709,167 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid up shares of Unilever Nigeria Plc has now increased from 3,783,296,250 to 5,745,005,417 ordinary shares.

In a notice to dealing member, signed by Godstime Iwenekhai, Head, Listings Regulation Department, the company on Thursday listed the shares on the Daily Official List of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The additional shares, it noted, arose from Unilever’s Rights Issue of 1,961,709,167 ordinary shares of 50 kobo at N30.00 per share in the Ratio of 14:27 ordinary shares held as at June 28, 2017.

It will be recalled that Unilever Nigeria’s N58.85 billion rights issue was 120 per cent subscribed.

In a statement, the company said it sold 14 new new shares for every 27 held at N30 each, adding that four shareholders applied for 50 million shares or more during the offer.

Unilever had said it would take up its rights under the offer to maintain its shareholding and not convert a loan made to the subsidiary into equity.

The proceeds of the sale, according to the board of the company would be used to pay off around $120 million in loans and to give it some flexibility in the event of a further weakness in the naira’s exchange rate.

On the same note, Trans Nationwide Express Plc listed an additional ordinary shares 270,027,370 units.

The additional shares listed arose from Tranex’s Rights Issue of 270,027,370 ordinary shares of 50 kobo at N0.80 per share in the Ratio of 3:2 ordinary shares held as at January 25, 2017.

With this listing of 270,027,370 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid up shares of Trans Nationwide Express Plc has now increased from 198,819,762 to 468,847,132 ordinary shares.