The Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (SPDC), Dr. ABC Orjiako, has sold off a total of 3.5 million Ordinary units of his shares which he indirectly held in the company .
This was disclosed in a statement issued by Seplat notifying the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), and the investing public of the transaction last Monday. The shares were sold at the price of N114.5 kobo per share, thus, amounting to 3.5 million .
The Oracle checks revealed that the sold shares were registered in the name of Vitol Energy Limited, held for the benefit of Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited, which is an entity managed by Dr. Orjiako and members of his family.
Following the sale, Dr. Orjiako now holds a direct interest in16,151,325 Ordinary shares and indirect interest in 26,300,000 Ordinary shares of Seplat, totalling 42,451,325 shares. This equates to a voting interest of 7.21 percent (based on Issued Share Capital of 588,444,561).
Prior to this development, Dr. Orjiakor had through his company, Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited, sold off about 7,636,912 shares to an existing shareholder, Petrolin Trading Limited. At the moment, Shebah Limited is the investment vehicle used by Dr. Orjiako and his family for their holdings in Seplat Petroleum.
Meantime, Dr. Orjiako has various companies in the upstream, downstream and service sectors of the Oil and Gas industry. His companies include Abbeycourt Trading Company Limited, Abbeycourt Energy Services Limited, Zebbra Energy Limited, and Shebah Exploration and Production Company Limited. He also has other business interests in construction, real estate development, pharmaceuticals and shipping.
It would be recalled that in 2009, his company, Shebah Exploration and Production Company co-founded Seplat with Platform Petroleum Limited. Since inception, Dr. Orjiakor has remained the Chairman spearheading new business development and providing leadership on strategy and stakeholder relationships.
Also, the Board of Directors of SPDC last year,( 2018) awarded Ordinary shares of the Oil and Gas company worth ₦2.19 billion to the three top management staff of the company as bonus shares.
This was granted under the Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc 2014 Long-Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”) to Executive Directors and other Senior Executives of the Company. The beneficiaries of the ₦2.19 billion bonus shares include Seplat’s Chief Executive Officer, Austin Avuru, Chief Financial Officer, Roger Brown, and Operations Director, Effiong Okon.
According to a notification signed by the company secretary, Mirian Kene Kachikwu,Avuru received more than 1.25 million Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each and 138,157 deferred shares.Brown received a total of 760,046 Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each and 55,673 deferred shares.
Okon got 779,061 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. With these, Avuru was awarded a total of 1.388 million shares while Brown was granted a total of 815,719 ordinary shares.
The three top management executives were granted a total of 2.98 million Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, valued at ₦2.19 billion at Seplat’s opening price of ₦734.70 at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as at then.
The awards will vest on May 2, 2021 being the third anniversary of the Award Date subject to relative Total Shareholder Ret urn (TSR) performance condition and reserves growth underpin.
Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, is the first upstream company to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), and in 2014 increased its capital base by about N5.78 billion with the absorption of the oversubscription from its recent $500 million initial public offering (IPO).
It subsequently added about 10.03 million Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to its volume of shares.
The company attributed the additional shares to oversubscription and allotment that resulted from recent IPO.
After a highly successful global IPO of $500 million, Seplat had made history mid April as the first upstream company to be listed on the NSE. It also simultaneously listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The initial offer size of
IPO was expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately $500 million, equivalent to £300.9 million and N82.5 billion.
However, the company had indicated it intended to absorb over-subscription. According to its IPO report, the over-allotment option in the global IPO shall represent 15 per cent of the final amount allocated to the international offering in the base offer. Thus, the global offer will comprise a base offering and an over-allotment option, consisting of new shares to be issued by the company.
The listing of Seplat activated the exploration and production subsector of the oil and gas sector of the NSE and added N313 billion to the aggregate market value of quoted companies. About 543.3 million Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each were then listed at N576 per share.
The company had indicated that it intended to use $48 million from the net proceeds of the IPO to repay in full all outstanding amounts under its shareholder loan from MPI S.A. (MPI) while the balance would be used to acquire and develop new acquisitions or pay down any additional debt raised in connection therewith, of both onshore and shallow offshore acreages, assets or joint venture (JV) farm-ins.
According to the company, the main source of acquisitions is expected to come from divestitures by various internatioanal oil companies.
Chairman, SPDC,, Dr. ABC Orjiako, had noted that 48 per cent of the investors that invested in the company’s IPO were Nigerian investors assuring that the company will live up to expectations by growing its net value while simultaneously paying dividends to shareholders.
He said the company would continue to uphold the highest level of corporate governance and ensure that it complies with all post-listing requirements at the NSE.According to him, the IPO affords Nigerians to be part of wealth creation engine that Seplat represents.
“We are delighted with the support shown and happy to welcome a range of blue chip investors to our share register. Despite a challenging market for oil and gas stocks, the response has been excellent and demonstrates strong demand in both London and at home for a leading Nigerian exploration and production player,” Orjiakor said.
He reiterated that the net proceeds of the global offer will primarily be used to acquire and develop new acquisitions, or pay down any additional debt raised in connection thereof.
Seplat was founded in 2009 by Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited and Platform Petroleum (Joint Ventures) Limited for the purpose of investing in Nigerian oil and gas opportunities. Maurel& Prom, a French independent oil company, subsequently acquired a 45 per cent equity interest in Seplat; this interest was later spun-off to form Maurel & Prom Nigeria S.A, which is now known as Maurel & Prom International.
In July 2010, SEPLAT acquired a 45 per cent participating interest in, and was appointed operator of, a portfolio of three onshore producing oil mining leases-OMLs 4, 38 and 41, which are located in the Niger Delta.
Seplat is regarded as one of the leading indigenous oil and gas operators in Nigeria with average gross operated oil production of 51,400 barrels per day (bpd) as at December 31, 2013, a substantial mileage from 13,900 bpd in August 2010.
