PZ Begs Minority Shareholders To Accept Acquisition Offer As Company Struggles With Debts

PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc has increased the share acquisition offer it made to its shareholders from N21 per share to N23 per share after it received advise from financial experts.

The reversal follows the resistance the company faced when it announced on September 4, 2023 that it plans to delist and would acquire shares held by minority shareholders of the company.

PZ offered the minority shareholders N21 per share which they resisted and threatened to approach court for redress.

PZ is controlled by PZ Cussons Holdings Limited, UK which owns 2.9 billion shares representing 73.27 per cent of the share while the remaining 26.73 per cent is widely held by the minority shareholders, findings by THE WHISTLER reveals.

AMCON and PFA holds 98.79 million shares which is 2.49 per cent of the company, Mr P. Usoro has 1 million shares or 0.003 per cent while 24.21 per cent which 961.27 million shares are held as free float.

Following the disagreement, PZ said in a filing that its Board of Directors has duly considered the Offer with support from its advisers and an independent fairness opinion, and following discussions with the core shareholder, the offer price has been increased to N23 per share.

“The Board is accordingly pleased to announce that it considers the offer to represent fair value for the Minority Shareholders and recommends that the Minority Shareholders approve the Offer,” PZ said.

PZ said the new offer price of N23 represents a premium of 35 per cent to the Company’s share price of N17 on 17 August 2023 which is the last traded price prior to the offer date.

The company is facing challenges of obtaining foreign exchange to pay trade debts and other creditors as revealed in its first quarter of the new financial year ending August, 2023.

PZ books showed it suffered N44.5 billion in foreign exchange loss for the first quarter of the new financial year.

The company also posted N38.6 billion loss after tax as a result of its challenges.

PZ revealed, “The Board considered the offer in light of the challenges the Company continues to face in obtaining foreign currencies to pay its trade debts and other creditors, and specifically its reliance on the PZ Cussons Group for financial support.

“The Board also notes the Company’s significantly deteriorated net asset position, as further set out in the Abridged Unaudited Report for Quarter 1 ended 31 August 2023, which was published on 3 November 2023.”