Union Bank is now a private company one year after ₦191bn acquisition

Union Bank, Nigeria’s second-oldest deposit money bank, will no longer be listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) one year after its acquisition by TitanTrust. The ₦191 billion acquisition—a crucial part of TitanTrust’s five-year plan to join Nigeria’s elite league of tier-1 banks—means TitanTrust now has ₦1.53 Trillion in customer deposits.

As part of the delisting process, Union Bank will buy out all its remaining shareholders. The bank is offering ₦7.70 per share, compared to the ₦7 per share that TitanTrust paid when it acquired 89.3% of Union Bank’s shares. It closed today at ₦6.70 per share, from ₦6.50 when the markets opened.

“This move is an effort to attract larger private investments to reconsolidate our position as one of the top pioneer Banks in Nigeria,” said Mudassir Amray, the CEO of Union Bank. 

This is the third time a Nigerian company will go private in one year. Ardova Plc ended its 53-year run on the NGX in July 2023. Rak Unity Petroleum, the first indigenous company to be quoted on the exchange, voluntarily delisted from the Nigerian bourse last month after undergoing a liquidation process. 

Five more companies will delist from the stock exchange, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), PZ Cusson, Oando, Coronation Insurance, and Capital Hotel. Recent data from the Nigerian bourse showed that a total of 121 quoted companies have been delisted from the official list of the NGX between 2002 to 2022.