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Diamond Bank to raise $250m equity capital

By BusinessNews Staff on May 15, 2014

Diamond Bank Plc plans to tap the equities market to raise between $200 million to $250 million following its debut Eurobond issue due to be priced today, its Chief Finance Officer, Abdulrahman Yinusa, told Reuters yesterday.

Shareholders of Diamond Bank had last month endorsed the plan by the bank to raise $500 million additional capital in its quest to raise its tier-2 capital by $750 million.

The bank had explained that it had already raised about $250 million out of $750 million.

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Alex Otti had said the fund would enhance Diamond Bank’s operations as well as its expansion drive.

He had explained: “The capital raising is actually part of the $750 million we wanted to raise earlier. It is not that we are looking for $750 million; we already have close to $250 million.

“So what we are looking for is around $500 million and I don’t think shareholders have anything to worry about because we really took our time and went through the process. I assure you (shareholders) that it is going to make the bank better, rather than dilute your shares.”

Global rating agency, Fitch Ratings last week assigned Diamond Bank Plc’s United States dollar senior debt notes an expected Long-term rating of ‘B(EXP)’ with a recovery rating of ‘RR4(EXP)’.

[This Day]

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