After 10 years of 100% ownership, Access Bank Ghana, a fully-owned subsidiary of Access Bank Nigeria PLC will be going to the Ghana Stock Exchange, GSE to raise about USD26 million via initial public offer, IPO.
The bank said it has received the approval of the Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission and the GSE to go ahead with the IPO,
Access Bank Nigeria will be reducing its stake to 78% and allowing the remaining 22% of its total shareholding to be floated on the GSE.
Access Bank Nigeria PLC, the parent company of Access Bank Ghana has been scrambling to raise fresh funding for its major operations in Nigeria. The pressure and the aftermath weak status of the Naira (NGN), has created huge credit impairments for Nigerian banks across all tiers.
Last month, Access Bank Nigeria PLC announced that it has started a fundraising campaign for a Eurobond. In our earlier report, it was noted that:
Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are its advisers and consultant in the debt issuance campaign. While Access Bank has not disclosed how much it is planning to raise, the bank already has pending debts that will be due for payback.
Access Bank Nigeria also has outstanding debt in its custody that are counting down for settlement. By July 2017, Access Bank must pay back USD350 million and by June 2021, the bank must redeem its pledge on USD400 million bond to investors.
Access Bank is yet to release its Q3 financial result. It is expected that the bank would release further details on the Ghana IPO and how it plans to raise more funds via the Eurobond and the IPO itself.
The bank is a subsidiary and component of the Access Bank Group, a financial services conglomerate with headquarters in Nigeria and subsidiaries in eight Sub-Saharan African countries and the United Kingdom. ABGL became operational in 2009, with base capital of GHS:80 million.
