The shareholders of International Breweries have approved a loan of $379.9m from its majority shareholder, AB InBev Nigeria Holdings BV, to enable the company to repay a loan obtained from Citibank Abu Dhabi.
At its recently held Extraordinary General Meeting, whose resolutions were filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the shareholders also approved the conversion of the loan to equity in the planned rights issue of the brewer, which is one of the largest breweries in the world.
Part of the resolutions read, “Approval of Shareholders Loan: That the convertible loan of $379.9m from AB InBEV Nigeria Holdings BV (‘Shareholder Loan”) in respect of the repayment of the loan obtained by the Company from Citibank Abu Dhabi is hereby accepted and approved in accordance with the terms and conditions presented by the Management of the Company.
“Conversion of the loan to equity: That subject to complying with applicable regulatory requirements, the Directors are authorized to apply all sums due from the Company to AB InBev Nigeria Holdings BV under the Shareholders Loan, towards payment for any shares subscribed for by AB InBev Nigeria Holdings BV in the company’s Right Issue that has been approved by the Shareholders of the Company.”
Earlier, the shareholders of International Breweries approved the company’s planned rights issue.
In January, the board of directors of IB Plc said it was considering a rights issue and an increase in its share capital.
The issued share capital of the brewer stood at 26,862,069,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each as of the end of December 2023.
Brauhaase International Management GMBH and its ultimate holding company (AB InBev Nigeria Holding BV) held an equity interest of 87.29 per cent in the firm.
According to its audited results for 2023, IB Plc saw its revenue grow to N260.59bn from N218.65bn at the end of 2022. It, however, suffered a loss of about N70.03bn on the back of foreign exchange losses (realised and unrealised).
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
