18 Months After, Ikeja Hotel Shares Resume Trading

• 18 Months After, Ikeja Hotel Shares Resume Trading

Trading in the shares of Ikeja Hotel Plc resumed on Monday following the lifting of the suspension placed on it by the Nigerian Stock Exchange in November 2016.

The NSE said in a statement that the Securities and Exchange Commission had been notified of the development.

The bourse’s Head, Listings Regulation Department, Godstime Iwenekhai, said, “Further to our Market Bulletin of 10 November 2016 (NSE/LARD/LRD/MB02/10/11/16) notifying dealing members of the suspension of trading in the shares of Ikeja Hotel Plc, dealing members are hereby notified that the suspension was lifted today, Monday, May 21, 2018 as approved by the Quotations Committee of the National Council of the Exchange on Friday, 11 May 2018.

“Dealing members will recall that the company had on Friday, May 18, 2018 provided a status update to the market at a Facts behind the Restructuring event. Consequently, trading in the shares of the company has resumed on the Exchange.”

The NSE had in November 2016 suspended trading in the shares of the company “to safeguard the investments of shareholders of Ikeja Hotel Plc following the continued dispute between the major shareholders which had negatively impacted on the company’s governance structure”.

In May last year, it was reported that the Nigerian capital market apex regulator, SEC, dissolved the Board of Directors of the company due to the unresolved internal crisis involving some majority shareholders of the company.

The move, the commission said, became necessary in order not to allow the warring parties take certain actions that would give them an advantage over one another.

The regulator said as a public company, it was paramount that the activities of the company were conducted within the confines of existing corporate governance regulations in the Nigerian capital market to ensure the protection of minority shareholders and other investors.

“Having failed to resolve its lingering crisis, the commission in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the Investment and Securities Act, 2007 to protect investors and the integrity of the securities market, hereby approves the appointment of an interim board for the company with Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN as interim chairman,” SEC stated.

The interim board was mandated to oversee the conduct of a forensic investigation into the affairs of the company, according to SEC.

“It is the commission’s expectation that the shareholders and key management staff of the company will work with the new team to ensure that the fortunes of the company are restored in the shortest possible time,” it said.