Unilever Nigeria to raise N58. 85bn in share sale

Unilever Nigeria has scaled back the amount it plans to raise from shareholders via a rights issue to 58.85 billion naira ($162 million).
The household products maker, majority owned by Unilever , had planned to raise 63 billion naira through a rights issue and said in April it would ask shareholders to approve the share sale.
The company said on Tuesday it would issue 14 new shares to existing shareholders for every 27 held at 30 naira each, a 25.2 percent discount to Tuesday’s market price of 40.13 naira.
It said the rights offer, which opened on Monday, would close on Sept. 8. It planned to offer 1.96 billion shares.
Unilever Nigeria was not immediately available to comment on Tuesday.
In July, the company reported a 238 percent rise in half-year pretax profit to 5.04 billion naira.
Unilever Nigeria shares, which have gained 13.3 percent so far this year, rose 0.86 percent on the Lagos bourse on Tuesday. The stock fell 19.1 percent last year.
Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, last year entered its first recession in 25 years, brought on by low oil prices, which have slashed government revenues and crippled dollar supplies in the country.
Credit: Reuters