This, according to the GTCO, followed the completion of the capital verification exercise conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the approval of the Basis of Allotment of the Offer by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The offer, which garnered substantial interest from domestic retail investors, raised a total of N209.41 billion from 130,617 valid applications for 4.706 billion ordinary shares, fully allotted.

It will be recalled that GTCO, on July 15, 2024 commenced its public offer programme of nine billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N44.50 per ordinary share, amounting to N400.5 billion.

This milestone concludes the first phase of GTCO’s phased equity capital raise programme, which is structured on a balanced allocation strategy based on an equal split between institutional and retail investors. This balanced approach aligns with GTCO’s commitment to fostering a well-diversified and robust investor base.

Speaking on this phase of the recapitalisation exercise, Segun Agbaje, the group chief executive officer of GTCO, said, “we extend our sincere appreciation to our new and existing shareholders, as well as the regulatory authorities, for their unwavering support during this initial phase of our equity capital raise.

“The strong participation and successful capital verification exercise and allotment process reaffirm the confidence investors have in our fundamentals and execution capabilities. This sets a solid foundation for accelerating our strategic roadmap, which aims to pivot the Group for transformational growth and unlock greater value across the Group’s banking and non-banking businesses.”

He said, GTCO continues to lead its peers in key profitability metrics and financial performance, saying, “building on this successful first phase, the Group will commence the second phase of its recapitalisation plan in 2025, which is strategically positioned to attract significant foreign institutional investments, reinforcing its reputation as a ‘Truly International’ financial services brand.”

Agbaje stated that,

“Proceeds from the combined equity raise will be strategically deployed to recapitalise the Group’s flagship subsidiary, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank Nigeria), enhancing its ability to meet regulatory requirements and further solidify its position as a leading financial institution.

“Additionally, the funds will support Group-wide growth initiatives, including footprint expansion, product enhancement, and innovation across both Banking and Non-Banking subsidiaries. GTCO remains committed to delivering sustainable value to its stakeholders and driving innovation across the financial services landscape in Africa.”

The likes of Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Leo Stan Ekeh, Segun Agbaje, Tony Elumelu, and corporates like GTCO (Guaranty Trust Holding Company), Zenith Bank, Zinox, Globacom, among others, have at one time or another faced a blizzard of blackmail.

The blackmailers’ intents are multifarious: to make easy money (ransom), damage the reputation of their target, ruin an enterprise, or inflict emotional trauma on their victims.

In the past few years, several multinationals have left the country. On paper, some of the multinationals claim forex crunch, rising cost of doing business and in some cases, their inability to remit their profits out of the country to service loans in their home countries or elsewhere as reasons for exiting Nigeria, Africa’s largest market for all products and services.

But those who ever cared to investigate the cause of the unprecedented exodus of these multinationals would easily point to blackmail as the chief reason for the mass exit of these mega corporates as well as a major reason why other foreign investors were frustrated from investing in Nigeria.

The Nigerian bureaucracy can blackmail you out of business by denying you all necessary niceties, documents and requirements that would enable you set forth or grow your enterprise.

How about this? In September 2023, when President Bola Tinubu attended the G20 Summit in India, one of his first assignments was a meeting with Mr. Prakash Hinduja, Chairman and CEO of the Hinduja Group of companies, a conglomerate with a total asset portfolio exceeding $100 billion.

The Indian billionaire lauded Tinubu and pledged to invest in Nigeria only because of his confidence in the Nigerian president. But he did not fail to remind President Tinubu how he was frustrated years back when he attempted to invest in Nigeria.

His exact words:

“I have had paperwork stalled in Nigerian bureaucracy for over one year, especially in FCT. But I knew that you would be purpose-driven in this endeavour and God will help you to turn Nigeria’s rich promise into rich reality for all of its citizens.”

Any discerning mind would notice the rebirth of hope in an investor who had been frustrated out of Nigeria by Abuja bureaucracy. In case you don’t get it, Mr Hinduja was referring to another type of common blackmail in Nigeria. “If you don’t see us, you won’t get the support you need.” Plain bribery and corruption which runs in the civil service.

In the United States, a country with unapologetic capitalist culture, blackmail is considered a serious crime under federal law and every state law.

Culprits can be jailed and/or punished with huge fines in some cases. The same applies in Europe and Asia where the blackmailer is neither spared nor pampered.

Nigeria has a panoply of laws including the Cybercrime Act to deal with corporate blackmailers. However, the laws are made weak because, in some cases, the legal processes are convoluted and drag leisurely, making the suspects exploit loopholes within the system to dodge conviction.

Corporate  blackmailers are like the cunning fox. They know that reputational damage is a high risk for their victim; hence, they often drag the case in a court of law to keep it perpetually on the front burner of public discourse in the media.

But truth be told, these blackmailers are the real enemies of Nigeria and President Tinubu. For while Tinubu is making genuine efforts to woo investors to Nigeria, blackmailers are busy rubbishing existing investors and especially indigenous investors. If we don’t treat our indigenous investors well, how do we expect a foreigner to invest in our economy? This is the paradox and the real reason Tinubu should come hard on corporate blackmailers.

A few instances of corporate blackmail and embarrassment. Nigeria’s highly successful business honcho, Mike Adenuga, had his office brusquely raided in 2006 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The raid and ‘arrest’ of Adenuga were widely exposed in the media.

At the end, it turned out that Adenuga had nothing sleazy in his closet that the accusers could use to nail him in the court of law. But he was sufficiently terrified and blackmailed such that he had to go on temporary exile from Nigeria to Ghana to the UK.

Another Nigerian business success story, Aliko Dangote, has been in and out of blackmail, sometimes from competitors, career blackmailers who want a chunk of his money, or even public institutions who, rather than help his business empire to thrive and keep thriving, prefer to bring him down.

The most recent of such serial blackmail is the running campaign to discredit his $20 billion refinery. First, they claimed it was non-existent, and that failed.

They switched to, it can never take off, which also failed. They tried the fib that the refinery was producing low-quality products; this also failed.

Then, there was that disingenuous yarn that he had no approval, no licence for the project, yet the same Federal Government acquired 7.5% of an unlicensed company shares with public fund? This, again, failed to fly. There were many more, but they all crashed, as does every lie.

Then, there was the failed but long-drawn corporate blackmail against Leo Stan Ekeh, the listless and gifted founder of the Zinox Group, a global conglomerate spanning ICT, e-commerce, real estate, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, and more. His case is such that pools tears in the eyes.

A case of a fry threatening to swallow a barracuda. Several studies have identified envy, money (ransom), extreme competitiveness, desire to tarnish a reputation, a knack to hurt an enterprise and inflict emotional pain on the business owners as some of the drivers of corporate blackmail.

In some cases, it may just be one of the factors named above. But in the case of Ekeh, it’s a combination of envy, extortion, and reputational damage.

The case of Ekeh is one that tasks your state of sanity. It got me thinking about how much premium Nigerians, nay Africans, place on their brightest and best, especially those who by sheer dint of hard work, tenacity, and courage to dare the odds, burrowed their way from the lowest nadir of their enterprise to the zenith of it.

Nigerian entrepreneurs like Ekeh and many others across the country built their businesses from scratch. They deserve praise for their industry and deserve to be protected from blackmail hawks.

The various but failed attempts to link Ekeh and any of the companies associated with his name to unhealthy corporate governance smacks of desperation and a primitive show of disrespect for a man whose collateral is integrity. Any African who plays big in the Africa ICT marketplace knows that without integrity, you cannot have as much as a handshake with over 31 global brands like Microsoft, Apple, HP, Samsung, IBM, Cisco, Starlink, among others. Zinox Group does.

Every Nigerian government at national and sub-national level claims they are wooing foreign investors. But they forget that how Nigeria treats her indigenous investors will influence how foreign investors perceive the Nigerian market.

You cannot expose your home-grown investors to the vagaries of blackmail and treachery and expect foreign investors to trust you. This is the task before Tinubu. He must cleanse the corporate ecosystem of both systemic and individual blackmailers.

Gaya, a Public Policy Analyst, writes from Kano

The result was released by GTCO to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE) respectively.

The Group reported profit before tax of ₦509.3billion, representing an increase of 587.5% over ₦74.1billion recorded in the corresponding period ended March 2023.

The Group’s loan book (net) increased by 21.9% from ₦2.48trillion recorded as at December 2023 to ₦3.02trillion in March 2024, while deposit liabilities increased by 26.0% from ₦7.55trillion in December 2023 to ₦9.51trillion in March 2024.

The Group’s balance sheet remained well structured, diversified, and resilient with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at ₦13.0trillion and ₦2.0trillion, respectively.

Full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) remained very strong, closing at 24.9%, while asset quality was sustained as IFRS 9 stage 3 loans improved to 3.1% in March 2024 from 4.2% December 2023 and cost of risk (COR) closed at 0.4% from 4.5% in December 2023.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Segun Agbaje, the group chief executive officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, said:

“Our first quarter results reflect the unfolding value of what we have created in all our business verticals through the Holding Company Structure – from Banking and Payments to Funds Management and Pension.

We are positioned to compete effectively on all fronts and fulfil all our customers’ needs under a unified, thriving financial ecosystem. Despite the challenging operating environment, we delivered a solid performance, recording significant growth across all financial and non-financial metrics, and we remain on track to meeting our full year guidance.”

Mr. Agbaje further said: “Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on strengthening our relationships with our loyal customers, supporting not just individuals and businesses but also our communities through our well-attested free business platforms as well as innovative products and services.

“We are confident in our credentials to lead the future of financial services in Africa and will not relent in our commitment to excellence whilst delivering long-term value to all stakeholders.”

Overall, the Group continues to post one of the best metrics in the Nigerian financial services industry in terms of key financial ratios i.e., pre-tax return on equity (ROAE) of 117.0%, pre-tax return on assets (ROAA) of 18.0%, full impact capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 24.9% and cost-to-income ratio (CIR) of 16.3%.

According to its audited consolidated and separate financial statements filed with the Nigerian Exchange Group and London Stock Exchange on Monday, PBT increased by 184.5 per cent from N214.2bn reported in the previous year.

GTCO is one of the top financial holding companies in the country, with a market capitalisation worth over N1tn on the NGX.

During the period under review, the group post-tax profit rose by 218.99 per cent to N539.65bn from N169.17bn in 2022.

Its loans and advances improved by 31.5 per cent to N2.48tn, while deposits grew by 63.7 per cent to N7.55tn.

The group’s total assets and shareholders’ funds closed at N9.7tn and N1.5tn, respectively.

In terms of ratios, its capital adequacy ratio remained strong, closing the year at 21.9 per cent, while asset quality was sustained as IFRS 9 Stage 3 loans improved to 4.2 per cent in December 2023 from 5.2 per cent in the same period of the prior year.

However, the cost of risk was higher at 4.5 per cent from 0.6 per cent in December 2022 due to the worsening macroeconomic factors.

Mr Segun Agbaje, the group chief executive Officer of GTCO, while commenting on the results, said;

“The challenging operating environment of 2023 truly tested the business model we put in place for the holding company, for both our banking and non-banking business verticals. Harnessing the group’s synergies yielded a strong performance, allowing us to strengthen our foothold in banking whilst also building viable and resilient businesses of HabariPay, Guaranty Trust Fund Managers, and Guaranty Trust Pension Managers”.

According to him, “Also important to our success is our relentless obsession with innovation and offering great customer experiences as demonstrated by the successful redesign and upgrade of our mobile banking application, GTWorld.”

Agbaje maintained that GTCO had continued to strive to create value for its stakeholders.

“In a landscape characterized by evolving regulatory reforms, global uncertainties, and heightened competition, we have continued to leverage our inherent strengths and capabilities to unlock significant value, creating more opportunities for the businesses and individuals we serve”, he said.

He noted that “As we navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, we are confident that our robust underpinnings and focus on flawless execution will continue to drive sustainable growth across all our operations and deliver long-term value for our stakeholders,” he enthused.

The group will be paying a final dividend of N2.70k bringing the total dividend for 2023 to N3.20k.

Having met all regulatory requirements, both companies are now fully owned subsidiaries of Guaranty Trust Company Plc (“GTCO Plc,” or “the Group”).

This signals an important milestone in the corporate reorganisation that GTCO announced in July 2021. The Group has now evolved from a pure play banking franchise to actualising its vision of creating an ecosystem of financial services that will enable the Group to offer greater and more rewarding experiences to customers. 

With over 26,000,000 customers and a growing presence in Nigeria, West Africa, East Africa, and the United Kingdom, the Group is well positioned to expand its reach to serve more markets and deliver on its promise of championing Africa’s growth. 

Going forward, GTCO’s products and services will include innovative Pension Fund and Wealth Management solutions alongside the existing Banking products and services. What this means for customers is that GTCO can now offer the full range of financial needs – from banking services to wealth management and pension solutions in one seamless experience.

In a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), Erhi Obebeduo, GTCO’s group company secretary, said One Pension Managers will function primarily as a Pension Fund Administrator to the general public.

Investment One Financial Services Limited was incorporated in 2008 as GTB Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. But in 2012, GTB divested its GTB Asset Management Ltd in line with a 2010 CBN directive.

According to the corporate disclosure, Segun Agbaje, group chief executive officer of GTCO, explained that the acquisition is in line with the evolution of the Guaranty Trust brand in becoming a fully-fledged end-to-end financial services company to every African and African business.

“With over 30 years of being a trusted banker to millions of Nigerians and expertise in capital allocation to generate the highest yields for our customers and shareholders; the Pension Fund business is a natural fit for the Guaranty Trust brand,” he said.

“Also, our bias for the highest standards in corporate governance will ensure transparency in how we manage the funds under our management, which will ultimately make us the preferred Pension Fund Administrator, not only in the Nigerian market but also in Africa.”

“Whilst evolving as an organisation, we remain committed to our founding values of excellence, hard work and integrity, as we continue to build a Proudly African and Truly International brand for millions of people in and outside of Africa”.