According to report made available to Freelanews, FMDQ could be paying up to N20bn in order to obtain 21.6 percent equity stake in Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc.
It was gathered that it has been agreed between the groups that FMD would buy out shares possessed by Leadway Insurance and Artemis Limited a Verod Capital affiliate.
Leadway and Artemis own 16.6 percent and 5 percent stakes respectively in CSCS. Their stakes combined are 1.08billion units.
According to the informed market source, transactions of this sort typically carry a premium of 20 percent to 30 percent.
As at December 31, 2020 CSCS has 6 shareholders with over 5 percent ownership. They are Nigerian Exchange Group (29.19percent). Access Bank (7.5percent), UBA (5.37percent, Artemis Limited (16.6percent), Ess-ay Investments Limited (10percent), and Leadway Insurance (5percent).
CSCS Plc has 5billion shares outstanding, each of the shares trade at N17 on the NASD Over The Counter (OTC) market. With this deal, the share price of CSCS could rally further, having gained about 183percent last year.
FMDQ is one of Africa’s leading financial market infrastructure groups with ownership in a host of companies offering services that are vertically integrated into the financial market system.
CSCS is a leading clearinghouse for capital market operations in Africa’s largest economy.
The transaction is still subject to the approval of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
