STANDARD Bank Namibia is going public, seeking to list about 16% of its shareholding on the Namibian Stock Exchange on 15 November this year.
The shares will be going for N$8,90 and the offer is open to the public until 1 November this year.
According to Standard Bank, the main purpose of the listing and going public includes a desire to facilitate direct investment into the group, while meeting the Namibia Financial Sector Charter's proviso that requires that a part of all local financial institutions be owned by Namibian residents.
The Standard Bank Namibia group is at the moment owned by the Standard Bank Group SA (90%) and an employee investment vehicle, Purros Trust (10%).
In May this year, the group subdivided their ordinary shares from 100 000 000 to 500 000 000, which are now worth N$0,002 per share. The 16% offering will come from a new offer of 22 million shares and 58 million shares from existing Standard Bank SA shares.
Standard Bank SA will walk away with N$522 million, a sum almost equal to Standard Bank Namibia's profits in December last year which were N$552 million.
Standard Bank Namibia Holdings is the holding company of Stanfin (Pty) Limited, Standard Insurance Brokers, the commercial Standard Bank Namibia and Mobicash Payment Solutions (Mobipay), as well as their custody vehicle, Standard Bank Namibia Nominees (Pty) Limited.
The commercial banking activities contribute the largest proportion to the profits pool, as much as 85% in the last three years. The group has a N$22 billion loan book, with non-performing advances as a percentage of total gross advances standing at 6,16%, an increase from 3,73% last year, and surpassing the 4% central bank benchmark.
The total capital adequacy ratio was at 12,95% and 10,63% at tier one. Return on equity as of June 2019 was 16,67%, the lowest it has been in the past four years, while a 1,6% return on assets was achieved, also the lowest in the last four years.
According to the prospectus, the N$8,90 offer is open to the general public but in the event of an oversubscription, consideration will be given to black empowerment status holders, Standard Bank staff and clients, and Namibians.
“Applications must be for a minimum 250 public offer shares and in multiples of 100 thereafter,” read the prospectus.
The applications can be made online and application forms are also available online. The public offer has not been underwritten and the listing is expected to cost Standard Bank about N$12,4 million, with sponsors and the accountants to get almost 90% of the fees.
The full prospectus is available from Standard Bank, including the instructions on how to apply for the offer.
