Lagos, Nigeria – Oando PLC (referred to as “Oando” or the “Group”), Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy group listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, today announced its plans to hold an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting on Tuesday, 18th of February, 2014 to consider, and if thought fit, pass the following resolutions:
- That on the recommendation of the directors and in accordance with Article 46 of the Articles of Association of the Company, the Authorized Share Capital of the Company be and is hereby increased from N5,000,000,000 (Five Billion Naira) to N7,500,000,000 (Seven Billion, Five Hundred Million Naira).
- The amendment of Clause 6 of the Memorandum of Association and Article 3 of the Articles of Association respectively to reflect the new authorized share capital of N7,500,000,000 (Seven Billion, Five Hundred Million Naira) divided into 15,000,000,000 (Fifteen Billion) Ordinary Shares of 50 Kobo each.
- The authorization to raise further capital of up to N50,000,000,000 (Fifty Billion Naira) through an offer by way of rights issue.
- The authorization to raise additional capital of up to N200,000,000,000 (Two Hundred Billion Naira) whether by way of a public offering, private/special placement, rights issue or other methods.
Commenting, Mr. Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando PLC said:
“As we contemplate our world post the acquisition of Conoco Philips Nigerian business Unit, which will undoubtedly provide significant growth in size and scale in our Upstream business, our mature Mid- Stream and Downstream Units continue to retain dominant positions in their market space whilst not requiring material Equity infusion.
In our bid to maximize shareholder value, it is necessary to optimize our balance sheet by funding our operations where necessary via equity as opposed to the more expensive debt, currently an average of 18% per annum in Naira and 8.5% per annum where dollar loans are secured.
The first of this long term plan will be the raising of further capital by way of rights of N50 billion expected to be concluded by Q2, 2014. The proceeds of this Rights exercise will be utilized towards debt reduction and our immediate working capital needs, none of the proceeds raised will be allocated to the closure of the COP Acquisition, furthermore we do not contemplate any additional equity issuance in 2014.
The passing of these resolutions will provide the ideal platform to ensure our readiness for further transformation, as we undoubtedly will generate stronger cashflows, but need to minimize our cost of capital to increase our returns to shareholders. I implore all shareholders to offer their full support as we continue to build sub-Saharan Africa’s leading energy company.”
Ends
