Unity Bank to seal deal with foreign investors

The Chief Executive Officer of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Tomi Somefun, yesterday disclosed that the bank will soon finalise a major deal that will see some foreign investors inject capital into the capital.

The CEO, who made this disclosure during a media briefing in Lagos, said that once the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed, the much-needed funds would be released into the company.

Although Mrs. Somefun refused to name who the foreign investors are, she did assure the journalists present at the briefing that the investment is real and nothing like the scandalous Milost Global deal that almost dragged the company through the mud earlier this year.

She also revealed that one of the investors is Asia’s second largest infrastructure finance institution; possibly the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

“All I can assure you is that this time around, it is very clear and it is not Milost. All I can say is that one of the parties is the second largest infrastructure finance institution in Asia.”

The Chief Executive went further to brag that investors are the ones now chasing after Unity Bank Plc, especially now that “the bank is now looking good.” In her words-

“Two years ago, we were the one chasing these investors. But we have told them to wait until we close this deal and any other party that wants to join, we can talk under a different arrangement.”

In the meantime, Mrs Somefun said she and her team have ensured to thoroughly scrutinise the new investors in order to avoid any unfortunate surprises that may occur in the future.

She also informed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is aware of the latest development and that the apex bank is impressed by the efforts being made by the tier-2 bank to refocus its business to profit-making.

Speaking on the suspension placed on the bank’s shares last week by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, she said it was unfortunate. According to her, the bank did inform the NSE that they were waiting to finalise the new deal with the foreign investors before releasing the 2017 result.

Unity Bank’s share price at the end of today’s trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was N0.65.