• Unresolved crises, poor regulation weighing on market confidence trapped in the coffers of the registrars, Ministry of Finance, and the Securities and Exchange Commission years after the companies were delisted from the capital market .
Dangote Flour and First Aluminium were delisted from the trading list of the defunct Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2019. The total money funds belonging to minority shareholders was N130 billion, with an unconfirmed sum said to have been paid. First Aluminium was delisted at 55 kobo. Minority stake was 25 per cent of the company’s two billion shares amounting to about N284.5 million.
Delisting processes have ended, why is the money not with the registrar? SEC will ask shareholders to write letters, and after that they will refer them to the registrars, who are helpless,” he lamented. Experts said these unwholesome practices have eroded investors’ confidence and further depressed the market. Data from the exchange showed that the appetite for stocks from both foreign and local investors has waned significantly in recent years. Managing Director of Crescent Registrar Limited, Prisca Enwe, confirmed that the trapped shareholders’ fund is currently in the custody of the SEC.
National Coordinator of Progressive Shareholders Association, Boniface Okezie urged the new SEC board to wade into the matter and ensure that it is settled as a matter of urgency. A member of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Oladimeji Adeleke, lamented the ordeal Nigerian shareholders have been facing in the hands of majority shareholders.
“First Aluminium ran to Kano state to hold their ‘Kangaroo’ meeting and up till now, shareholders have not been paid. Coronation Insurance was a healthy company until the management planned to delist it and since last year, the money has not been paid. This act has made shareholders lose interest in the capital market.”