GTCO to List on London Stock Exchange

Guaranty Trust Holding Company, the parent of Nigeria’s biggest bank by market value, GTBank, is set to list on the London Stock Exchange to sell $100mn in shares to investors in line with the CBN’s bank recapitalisation directive. The equity offering, which is an accelerated bookbuild, began on July 2 and is to last until July 31.

Segun Agbaje, GTCO’s chief executive, told the Financial Times that the sale launched on Monday would meet a central bank target for all banks to raise capital by March next year, as the bank which has a market value of N2,800bn ($1.8bn) prepares to become the first Nigerian bank to secure a secondary listing in London.

“I have heard all the things about businesses moving out of London.

“But I still think that in terms of being a financial centre, London remains extremely attractive, especially for an organisation like us, which is predominantly African and most of the revenues coming from Anglophone West African countries,” Agbaje said.

GTCO joins Greece’s Metlen Energy & Metals and private equity-backed software group Visma in planning a London listing. The London listing will also make GTCO the first lender from Nigeria joining the likes of Seplat Energy Plc and Airtel Africa Plc.