Law Union & Rock Insurance assures to beat recapitalization deadline

Managing Director, Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc, Ademayowa Adeduro, has said the company will complete its recapitalisation before December 2020, ahead of the regulatory deadline.

Adeduro said this in a statement with the title ‘Law Union & Rock to complete recapitalisation before year-end’.

The firm said in February, on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a transaction implementation agreement was signed between it and Verod Capital Management.

It said the agreement was with the intent that Verod Capital Management should acquire Law Union & Rock 100 per cent.

According to the statement, Verod is an Anglophone West African private equity firm focusing on investing equity and equity-linked capital in growth companies across various consumer-driven sectors in Nigeria, including in particular the insurance industry.

Adeduro said the company had reached 85 per cent completion of its recapitalization process.

He said the company had gone as far as securing approval of the National Insurance Commission, the NSE, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, allowing Verod Capital to acquire 100 per cent shareholding of the company.

“Verod has also placed the required funds to meet the statutory N10bn paid-up capital for general insurance businesses,” the MD said.

According to the managing director, the acquisition would be achieved through a scheme of arrangement, where all shares would be transferred to Verod Capital as regulated by Securities and Exchange Commission.

He added that upon successful completion of the scheme of arrangement process, a court-ordered meeting or the company’s annual general meeting would authorise the acquisition.

This meeting, he said is expected to take place in August 2020.

The statement said the company witnessed impressive growth in its 2019 financial accounts, posting a 254 per cent increase in profit after tax, from N226.5m in 2018 to N802.8m.

“Keeping in good faith with the Transaction Implementation Agreement signed by Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc and Verod Capital Management Limited, the latter has made the mandatory 10 per cent deposit required, which is in excess of N500m,”Adeduro said.

He enthused that based on these activities, the company was progressing and looking to close all recapitalisation process before the end of the year, with a reassuring posture for its stakeholders and partners.