AG Leventis Offers To Buyout Minority Shareholders, Delist From NGSE

Majority shareholders of A.G Leventis (Nigeria) Plc- Boval S.A., on behalf of itself, Leventis Holdings S.A. and Leventis Overseas Limited, on Tuesday, notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) of its offer to buy-out the company’s minority shareholders.
According to an analysis of the company’s shareholding structure, as of June 30, 2019, Leventis Holdings S.A. held 1.51bn shares, or 57.06%; followed by Boval S.A with 640.537m units or 24.2%; and Leventis Overseas Ltd, 177.198m shares of 6.69%, bringing the total holding by the majority shareholders to 87.95%, meaning that the company suffered a free-float deficiency.
In the notice, the company which has been a shadow of its old self noted that its board was approached by the majority shareholders “with an intention to acquire the shares held by other shareholders of the company at an offer price of 53 kobo per share.”
Following this transaction, the company is to be delisted from the Nigerian Stok Exchange.
The offer price of 53 kobo, the company noted, represents a premium of 85% to the 60-day volume-weighted average share price and 104% to its closing share price on September 23, 2019.
The notice by Bola Adebisi, the company secretary added that the proposed transaction, which is still subject to the review and clearance of the NSE and the Securities & Exchange Commission and approval of shareholders, will be implemented under a Scheme of Arrangement in line with Section 539 of the Companies & Allied Matters Act. Cap C.20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
Meanwhile, according to the company’s unaudited result for the half-year 2019, revenue declined from N6.918bn in 2018 to N3.96bn, even as management reported a loss after tax of N282.292m, which was better than the previous loss of N545.904m, helped by the tax credit of N132.843m, compared to the previous N256.896m credit.