The Nigerian Stock Exchange admitted the shares of Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc into the Daily Official List on Friday.

A statement by the company on Friday noted that a total of 10 billion issued and fully paid up shares of N50 kobo each were listed at a price of N13.03 per share.

By this action, the 18.75 billion shares of Stanbic IBTC Bank have been delisted from the official list.

At the close of trading activities on Friday, a total of 267 shares worth N3,479.01 were exchanged in a single deal, with the price remaining unchanged.

According to the statement, the former Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, has been appointed as the CEO of the Holding company, while the former Deputy CEO of the bank, Mr. Yinka Sanni, would take over David-Borha’s previous activities.

The statement noted that the decision by the bank to adopt a HoldCo structure was in compliance with the revised regulatory framework by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which requires banks to divest from non-core banking businesses or adopt a HoldCo structure.

It added that under the new structure, the operating subsidiaries of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc would include Stanbic IBTC Bank (including Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Limited), Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited and Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited.

Others are Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited, Stanbic IBTC Trustees Limited, Stanbic IBTC Ventures Limited, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Stanbic IBTC Investments Limited.

The statement explained that Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Stanbic IBTC Investments Limited were newly incorporated companies, adding that in line with the provisions of the scheme document approved by shareholders, the excess capital from the bank’s share cancellation would be returned to shareholders in cash form. 

David-Borha was quoted as saying that the new structure would consolidate the strengths and expertise of different business units and enhance the group’s ability to drive future growth. According to her, this will guarantee significant benefits to shareholders, employees and customers.

She said, “With the completion of a holding company structure, Stanbic IBTC proceeds to a new stage of growth.  The ultimate goal is to become Nigeria’s leading end-to-end financial solutions provider by leveraging the global network of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest banking group in terms of total assets and earnings, to which Stanbic IBTC belongs.”

She also explained that the company’s performance in the nine months ended September 30, 2012, clearly underscored its formidable growth potential.

“All the key performance indicators recorded significant improvements, with gross earnings rising by 35 per cent to N64bn, compared to N47.4bn a year earlier. Profit before tax stood at N9bn, representing an increase of 13 per cent over the N8bn posted a year earlier.”

Source: Punch (written by Udeme Ekwere)