Titan Trust Bank offers N12.18bn for Minorities shares to take Union Bank Private

Titan Trust Bank Limited, the commercial bank’s biggest shareholder, has made a bid of N12.18 billion to buy out the minority shareholders in Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc.

Titan Trust Bank notified the board of Union Bank of its plan to purchase the remaining 1.74 billion shares held by minority shareholders.

By way of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), a regulator of the capital markets, Union Bank informed shareholders of the offer on Monday.

As of December 2022, Titan Trust Bank had a 94.5 per cent (27.52 billion shares) ownership stake in Union Bank. Titan Trust Bank first acquired a majority stake in UBN in June 2022.

The acquisition of the 1.74 billion shares or 5.97 per cent stake held by minority shareholders will give Titan Trust Bank 100 per cent ownership of Union Bank, giving the majority investors an opportunity to take the creditor private, from its current publicly-owned status.

The statement from the lender reads: “Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. (“Union Bank” or “the Bank”) hereby notifies Nigerian Exchange Limited and our esteemed stakeholders that Titan Trust Bank Limited (“Titan Trust”), the Bank’s core shareholder, has informed the Board of Directors of Union Bank of an offer for the acquisition of all the shares held by the minority shareholders in Union Bank (“the Scheme Shares”).

“The transaction will be implemented by way of a Scheme of Arrangement (“the Scheme’’) between the Bank and the Bank’s shareholders (“the Minority Shareholders”), in accordance with the provisions of Section 715 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (as amended).

“Under the terms of the Scheme, the Scheme Shares, being the outstanding shares of the Bank not already held by Titan Trust, will be acquired by Titan Trust for a consideration of N7.00 (Seven Naira) per share.

“Union Bank has received the ‘No Objection’ of both the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities & Exchange Commission.

“The terms and conditions of the Scheme are stated in the Scheme Document which will be dispatched to all shareholders, following receipt of an order from the Federal High Court to convene a Court-Ordered Meeting of the Bank’s shareholders.”