How First Bank’s Delisting on the NSE Affects your Shareholdings

Iconic First Bank HQ in Marina

First Bank delisted its shares from the Nigerian Stock Exchange last week Friday, and listed the shares of its holding company, FBN Holdings Plc.
The move came in response to regulation from the Apex bank which ordered commercial banks to either sell their subsidiaries or adopt a holding company structure. First Bank decided on the latter, and secured shareholder approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 24 September 2012 to pursue the structure.
Speaking on the development, First Bank’s Group Managing Director, Bisi Onasanya stated that “The new structure demonstrates the Group’s ambition to be at the forefront of positive corporate governance developments. This structure provides significant benefits to the Group by aligning and clustering similar overlapping businesses as well as streamlining governance controls at the Group level.
Ultimately, the holding company structure is designed to enhance the Group’s overall competitiveness, and further explore opportunities for synergies between various subsidiaries.”
Shareholders of First Bank Plc stock will receive FBN Holding Plc stock in equal proportion to their holdings in the previous entity.