Stanbic IBTC to raise N24bn from rights issue

Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc

Stanbic IBTC Holdings says it is planning to raise N24bn from a rights issue once shareholders approve the transaction.

The lender said on Wednesday that the development would assist it to achieve its growth targets, Stanbic IBTC, majority owned by South Africa’s Standard Bank, said it would seek approval at a general meeting on June 3,Reutersreported.

Stanbic IBTC Bank had last month opened a new branch in Kano.

This came just as the bank recently equipped Small and Medium Enterprises operators with financial, marketing and management skills as part of efforts to build a viable SME sector in the country.

The bank said the capacity-building workshop organised for its clients operating in the SME sector was meant to provide the operators the relevant skills they could readily deploy to transform their businesses and grow their bottom line.

The Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinnia Abajue, said in a statement, “The SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception, which is why the seminar was conceived to avail the SME operators exposure to modern and innovative marketing, financial and management skills that are useful to their businesses, which will help them to attract the necessary funding for growth.”

Abajue, who was represented by the Head of Business Banking, Lloyd Onaghinon, said the bank was committed to building a strong SME base in Nigeria by empowering operators with the right business skills and adequate funding, among others.

“Stanbic IBTC Bank has a rich pedigree of building capacity for the SMEs and providing the much-needed support in terms of funding and skills acquisition because we understand the important linkages provided by the SMEs to industries and employment generation.

This seminar is one of several ways the bank continues to build capacity in the SME sector,” Abajue said.

He observed that the course content for the workshop and the resource persons were carefully chosen to ensure that the over 400 participants derived maximum benefits from the seminar.

He said the seminar course content was streamlined to include essential topics such as building financial records, achieving success in marketing, business planning and people management, adding that it was a unique offering by Stanbic IBTC to develop and sharpen the participants’ business skills.