Oando Plc raised N55.2bn in its recently concluded rights issue.

A statement from Oando on Monday noted that the company recorded  an over  subscription as it had issued 4.548 billion shares to existing shareholders at N12 per share between December 2012 and February 2013 with the intention of raising N54.6bn.

However, the allotment approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission explained that the company succeeded in raising N55.2bn, showing the high level of investors’ confidence in the  company.

The statement added that the over subscription of the issue did not come as a surprise to capital market stakeholders as experts had said that shareholders of the company were responding  to a positive outlook based on strong market fundamentals.

It said, “Oando is entering a new frontier in its integrated energy business model which will see the company increase investments in the upstream segment of the Oil & Gas space.

“In addition, the analysts believes Oando is a low cost route into Nigeria’s attractive energy sector.”

The statement explained that the acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ entire oil and gas assets in Nigeria put the company on course to increase its oil production to almost 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

It added that the company has made huge investments over the years that would begin to yield fruits, adding that the prospects of having a stake in the lucrative upstream sector would increase investors’ appetite for the company’s shares.

Meanwhile, trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed on a downward note on Monday, with major market indicators closing lower.

The market capitalisation of the listed equities was down by N29bn or 0.2 per cent to close at N11.769tn, down from N11.798tn recorded last Friday.

Similarly, the NSE All-Share Index fell by 0.2 per cent or 90.06 basis points to 36,817.75 points, down from 36,907.81 points last week.

Cutix Plc led 26 other stocks on the price losers’ chart, shedding 10 per cent or 23 kobo to close at N2.07 per share.

IPWA Plc followed, shedding 10 per cent or seven kobo to close at 63 kobo per share, while Chellarams Plc lost 9.9 per cent or 54 kobo to close at N4.89 per share.

Source: Punch (by Udeme Ekwere)