Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc, has obtained an approval-in-principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commence a formal process of restructuring to a financial holding company.
The bank made this known in a statement signed by its company secretary, Erhi Obebeduo, which was released yesterday. It stated that the restructuring will be implemented by means of a scheme arrangement between the Bank and its shareholders in pursuant to companies and allied matters act (CAMA).
Guaranty Trust Bank has joined the growing league of financial institutions to adopt a holding company structure, a model that allows them to keep their non-core banking subsidiaries under one umbrella.
“Under the restructuring, it is proposed that issued shares in GTBank be exchanged on a one-for-one basis for the shares in the financial holding company,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the bank’s existing global depository receipts (GDRs) are also proposed to be exchanged on a one-for-one basis for new GDRs to be issued by the financial holding company.
GTBank said it will be delisted from the official list of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE), and re-registered as a private limited liability company under relevant provisions of Nigeria’s corporate legislation.
Also, GTBank said it has obtained a ‘no-objection’ from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with the proposed scheme (CAMA).
GTBank said its board of directors made the decision to embark on restructuring following a comprehensive strategic evaluation of the operating and competitive environment in Nigeria’s banking sector in near term, saying, the board expects that the financial holding company will have greater strategy flexibility to adapt to future business opportunities as well as market regulatory changes than its current the case.