The Board of Directors of Guinea Insurance is seeking shareholders’ approval to raise up to N15bn in additional capital for the company.
This was disclosed in the notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday.
The PUNCH reports that the capital-raising efforts come on the heels of the passage of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025, which stipulates higher Minimum Capital Requirements for players in the insurance sector. According to NIIRA 2025, the minimum capital base for non-life insurers has been raised to N15bn, while the capital requirement for life insurance firms is now at least N10bn. Reinsurance companies received the steepest increase, with their capital threshold now pegged at N35bn.
The first special business of the Guinea Insurance EGM scheduled for December includes:
- That the company’s minimum issued share capital be and is hereby increased from N4,000,000,000 (four billion naira), made up of 8,000,000,000 (eight billion) ordinary shares of N0.50 kobo each, to N19,000,000,000 (nineteen billion naira), made up of 38,000,000,000 (thirty-eight billion) ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.
- That in order to comply with statutory capital requirements, strengthen the company’s financial base and support its strategic growth objectives, the Board of Directors be and are hereby authorised to raise additional equity capital of up to N15,000,000,000 (fifteen billion naira) by way of Rights Issue and Private Placement, on such terms, pricing, allotment structure and timetable as the Board of Directors may determine in the best interest of the company.
Pursuant to Resolution 1b above, the Directors are authorised, subject to approval of the relevant regulatory authorities, to raise additional capital through the issuance of up to 6,327,779,310 (six billion, three hundred and twenty-seven million, seven hundred and seventy-nine thousand, three hundred and ten) ordinary shares on such terms as may be determined by the Board of Directors, subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities.
The shares proposed to be issued pursuant to the above resolution and the rights attaching thereto shall rank at least pari passu with ordinary shares held by the existing members of the company.
In addition, the directors are seeking shareholders’ ratification to raise further capital through the issuance of up to 5,295,200,000 ordinary shares by way of Rights Issue, with unsubscribed shares to be allotted to other investors via private placement.
At the close of trading on Wednesday, Guinea Insurance shares traded at N1.15 per unit, a 3.6 per cent appreciation from Tuesday. About 2,098,639 units of the underwriter’s shares exchanged hands.
