UBA Excites Investors With N54B Bumper Share Offer!

01 Mar 2007

United Bank for Africa, Nigeria’s biggest bank, is creating excitement in the capital market with the launch of its N54 billion hybrid offer. The mandate, which is one of the largest in recent times and a historic milestone for UBA, includes a Public Offer of 1,127,400,000 ordinary shares of 50k each at N35 per share and a Rights Issue of 423,600,000 ordinary shares of 50k each at N34 per share.

Considering the technical suspension of the stock price over three weeks ago, at N37.99 per share, the public offer and rights issues are attractively priced at 8.5% and 11.7% discount respectively, thus giving investors a chance to share in the unfolding African success story that UBA has become.

UBA Group dazzled the industry with the release of its 2006 financial year end results, when the Bank became the first ever and only Nigerian (and indeed West African) bank to attain the One Trillion Naira mark in balance sheet and contingencies. The results also revealed an unprecedented deposit base of N776 billion, which alone is higher than the total balance sheet size of the nearest competing bank.

For the existing shareholders of UBA, it was a bumper harvest, with a N1 per share dividend and a bonus share of 1 for 5 per share. In addition, UBA shareholders have watched with excitement as their investment in the bank’s shares have shown significant appreciation, with share price growing exponentially from N12 per share on 1st August 2006 to as high as N37.99 on February 6, 2007 when the stock was placed on technical suspension preparatory to this offer. This represents a growth of over 216% in just six months.

UBA’s leadership of the Nigerian banking industry was recently buttressed by the acclaimed Agusto & Co rating company which rated UBA as the number one bank in Nigeria in terms of balance sheet size and other financial metrics, in February this year. Hot on the hills of this accolade, UBA emerged Bank of the Year at the 2007 Thisday Awards for Excellence.

The capital raised from this hybrid offer will fund the Bank’s regional expansion strategy, new branch rollout, upgrade to existing branches, enhance operating resources, as well as expand other delivery channels to bring convenience banking to customers of the bank, estimated at over 5 million nationwide.

UBA has a history of being the first in its initiatives. Besides being the first ever and only Nigerian bank to hit One Trillion Naira in balance sheet and contingents, UBA was the first Nigerian bank to offer an IPO following its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1970, and the first Nigerian bank to introduce a Cheque Guarantee Scheme known as UBACARD in 1986.

Also noteworthy is the fact that UBA is the only sub-Saharan African bank with presence in the USA (New York). UBA is also the only Nigerian company with a GDR program. It was the first Nigerian bank to enter Ghana, where it currently has 7 branches.

As banks clamour for recognition and market share, UBA has clearly gained the warrant on a clear leadership position in the Nigerian industry. With the accolades and stand-out financials, plus improved services, innovative products, technology, and a growing brand equity, UBA is positioned for even greater performance in the years ahead, which they can now leverage to pursue their aspirations on the African continent.

The success story of UBA today is owed largely to its crop of top of the range management comprising highly competent professionals drawn locally and from the Diaspora.

Tony Elumelu, Group Managing Director/CEO, with a clear vision to create an exemplary and role model African institution, has become a celebrated Entrepreneur/CEO both at home and abroad. He was recently elected the President of West African Bankers Association, WABA, and last November, he bagged the highly coveted 2006 African Business Leader of the Year accolade at the Africa Investor Awards held in Nairobi, Kenya, beating CEOs of other eminent African corporations.

UBA Group is a one-stop shop financial services powerhouse, with an array of subsidiary companies via which the group serves the needs of customers in all aspects of commercial and investment banking, wealth management, wealth creation and custodial services. The UBA subsidiaries include; UBA Global Markets, UBA Asset Management, UBA Trustees, UBA Private Equity, UBA Pensions Custodians, UBA Registrars, UBA Stockbrokers and UBA Metropolitan Life Insurance Ltd.

March 01, 2007