Stanbic IBTC withdraws license as capital manager

Stanbic IBTC Ventures Ltd, the capital manager of the Stanbic IBTC group on Friday surrendered its operating license as a ventures capital manager.

In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company said it surrendered the license voluntarily.

A ventures capital manager invests in early-stage companies, which are termed as risky, in exchange for equity in the companies they invest in.

“This is to inform The Nigerian Stock Exchange that Stanbic IBTC Ventures Limited (“SIVL”), a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) to surrender its licence as a Venture Capital Manager,” the notice, signed by Chidi Okeize, the company secretary, read.

“This surrender is entirely voluntary and the Commission has granted a “No Objection” to SIVL’s application.

“We also would like to state that SIVL does not have any Venture Capital obligations with any of its clients and the surrender of its licence would not impact negatively on the Stanbic IBTC Group as SIVL will still continue to operate as a going concern.”

The banking arm of Stanbic IBTC was fined N1.8 billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly helping MTN illegally repatriate $8.1 billion.

National Daily that the CBN has debited the accounts of Stanbic IBTC and two others implicated in the illegal transfer.

In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Stanbic IBTC said the deduction will not affect its capacity to handle clients’ requests or clients’ ability to continue to carry out viable business transactions whether in relation to the importation of capital or otherwise.

“We write to update The NSE that the CBN has debited the account of our banking subsidiary with the CBN for the full amount of the above-stated fine advised to the Bank,” the notice read.