Three directors of Sterling Financial Holding Company have acquired 46.24 million units of the holdco’s shares in a transaction worth N341.63m. The transactions were reported in a mandatory notification of share dealing by insiders filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited this week.
One of the transactions involved Seven Degrees North Limited, a company linked to the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, Yemi Odubiyi.
The company bought 20,816,570 units of Sterling HoldCo’s shares at 6.80 per unit, bringing the deal to about N141.55m. The transaction took place on the NGX platform in Lagos on August 1st.
Same day, the Chief Operating Officer, Sterling Bank Ltd, Temitayo Adegoke, acquired 5,742,260 units at 6.87 each. His acquisition cost him about N39.45m.
The CEO of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, acquired 19,684,442 units of shares at 8.16 each, which brings the value of the transaction to N160.63m. According to the corporate filing, he acquired the shares on August 6th.
These acquisitions by the directors of Sterling HoldCo followed the announcement of a public offer in a matter of weeks as the holdco seeks to meet the new capital threshold set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In a statement accompanying the release of its half-year financial report, said, “The group is set to enter the public phase of its capital raising programme in the coming weeks, aiming to close the N53bn recapitalisation gap of Sterling Bank and further strengthen the institution’s capacity for sustained growth across its diversified income streams.
“This public offer is the first phase of the US$400m capital raising programme approved by Sterling Holdco’s shareholders at its Annual General Meeting, which was held on the 30th of June 2025.”
The group had raised about N100bn via private placement and rights issue in the past, which it said enabled the full recapitalisation of Alternative Bank (its ethical banking subsidiary) and strengthened the capital base of Sterling Bank, its flagship subsidiary.
At the end of the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed that eight banks have met the new minimum capital thresholds, while others are working towards it.
In March 2024, the CBN directed commercial banks with international authorisation to increase their capital base to N500bn and national banks to N200bn, while those with regional authorisation are expected to achieve a N50bn capital floor.
Similarly, non-interest banks with national and regional authorisations will need to increase their capital to N20bn and N10bn, respectively. CBN gave the banks a deadline of March 2026.
