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Diamond Bank to raise $750m capital

By on April 4, 2014

Diamond Bank Plc Wednesday said it has sought shareholders’ approval to raise $550 million additional capital in its quest to raise its tier 2 capital by $750 million. It stated that $200 million has already been raised.

In a notice to shareholders on its annual general meeting, which comes up on April 24, the bank said a portion of the fresh capital would come from a rights issue to existing shareholders, adding that the terms, conditions and dates would be determined by the directors, subject to obtaining the approvals of relevant regulator authorities.

Speaking in a telephone chat with THISDAY last night, the Chief Finance Officer, Diamond Bank, Mr. Abdulrahman Yinusa explained that out of the $750 million, the bank had raised the first tranche of $200 million.

Furthermore, Yinusa said the Eurobond which was suspended last year as a result of the impact of the Federal Reserve tapering, was also part of the capital raising plan.

“The idea last year was to raise some more in our tier 2 Eurobond, but we were not able to do so because the market was unstable. So while we are waiting for the market to normalise, we want to get regulatory approval for a rights issue,” he added.

According to him, if the situation in the international market improves, the bank may float the Eurobond.

“We have raised $200 million, so what we are looking at is $550 million,” he said.
Diamond Bank Plc recently declared a profit before tax (PBT) of N32.1 billion for the financial year ended December 31, 2013.  The bank’s PBT growth was achieved from gross earnings of N181.2 billion, an increase of 27 percent over N143.0 billion earned in the previous year.

The profit after tax (PAT) for the year under review grew by 29 per cent to N28.5 billion as against the N22.1 billion recorded in 2012.

 

 

[This Day]