The Nigerian Stock Exchange has so far recorded two mergers and three supplementary listings this year.

A document from the NSE on Wednesday showed that Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc recorded the first merger this year. It merged with one of its subsidiaries, Niger Mills Company Limited.

Flour Mills, which held 99.97 per cent equity in Niger Mills, said the merger would facilitate the consolidation of the companies’ operations and processes into a single enlarged entity.

It added that it would build a more efficient company, positioned to create potential savings through the optimisation of overhead costs, particularly the administrative costs relating to maintaining two distinctive entities.

The process was completed on April 11, 2013, with a total of 50 million units added to the company’s shares, the NSE stated.

Also, Custodian and Allied Assurance Plc recorded the second merger this year on the NSE, as the company merged with Crusader Nigeria Plc.

Upon completion of the merger, a total of 781 million units were added to the shares of Custodian and Allied, and the process was completed on May 13, 2013.

The NSE report indicated that Guinness Nigeria Plc had a supplementary listing of 30.9 million units of additional shares. The bonus shares were added on February 8, 2013.

The report also noted that 23.12 million units were added to the shares of BOC Gases Plc on May 5, 2013.

Okomu Oil Palm Plc had a supplementary listing of 477 million units of shares, which were added on May 14, 2013.

Earlier this year, the NSE had announced that it would concentrate on key areas of encouraging new listings into the bourse, and introducing derivatives in an attempt to hit its $1tn market capitalisation target.

The NSE’s Executive Director, Business Development, NSE, Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri, said that the inauguration of derivatives together with the activities of market markers would help to improve liquidity in the market, which would in turn assist the NSE to attain its five-year target.

He said, “In terms of our goal for the $1tn market capitalisation, there are two parts to it, there will be new listings  and there will be derivatives and there will also be market makers that will take us to that height.

“As of now, we believe that Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the most stringent market in terms of framework and we believe that we are bench making against such stock exchanges and definitely, our compliance and regulatory framework is being widened. All these, we know, will take us to the level we plan to reach in the next few years.”

Source: Punch (Udeme Ekwere)