The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE has revealed that the decision to suspend trading of the shares of Continental Reinsurance Plc was to prevent further trading of the shares of the company beyond the effective date when the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court Sanction would be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Scheme of Arrangement.
This development will allow CRe African Investments Limited (CRe Investments) to acquire all the shares of Continental Reinsurance (CRe Nigeria).
Recall that the company’s shareholders met on December 20th, 2018 to deliberate on the takeover bid by the company’s core investors. The court-ordered meeting ended with shareholders approving the proposed takeover. Subsequently, “an application was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for final approval for the scheme.”
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The proposed scheme of arrangement was to allow the company’s core investor (CRe African Investments Limited) to buy out minority shareholdings.
However, further on into the acquisition, the company’s core investor chose to revise its proposal to acquire all outstanding and issued shares of Continental Reinsurance for a consideration of cash and shares.
According to Managing Director (MD) of Continental Reinsurance Plc (CRe), Dr Olufemi Oyetunji, the proposal to acquire minority shareholdings was in tandem with the company’s plans to transfer the various subsidiaries of the group to CRe Investments to enable CRe Nigeria shore up its balance sheets and capital required for maintaining and expanding the business.
Oyetunji noted that under the restructuring, Continental Reinsurance Nigeria’s shares would be transferred to Continental Reinsurance African Investments in exchange for shares in CRe Investments.