Seven-Up to delist from Stock Exchange, after foreign majority shareholder bullied Nigerian minority shareholders

Authorities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have started a process that will lead to voluntary delisting of the only soft-drink company quoted on the Exchange-Seven-Up Bottling Company (7-Up) Plc.

This is after the foreign majority shareholder-Affelka SA, bullied minority shareholders into a reverting it into a private company.

The NSE last Friday suspended all trading on the shares of Seven-Up Bottling Company, after Affelka SA, which currently hold more than 73 per cent, on Thursday secured the crucial voting to proceed to buy out all minority shareholdings.

The NSE has indicated that the acquisition of minority shareholdings will result in the voluntarily delisting of 7-Up Bottling Company from the Exchange.

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Shareholders of Seven-Up Bottling Company had last Thursday approved a plan by the majority shareholder, Affelka SA to acquire the outstanding 26.8 per cent shares held by the minority shareholders.

At a court-ordered meeting in Lagos, shareholders approved the scheme of arrangement for the acquisition. With the ongoing acquisition process, Affelka SA will increase its ownership of the Nigerian soft-drink company to 100 per cent by acquiring all the outstanding and issued shares, previously held by the minority shareholders.

In consideration for the transfer of the shares, a payment of N125 per scheme share will be made to each shareholder. This payment represents a 22.6 per cent premium on the last traded share price of Seven-Up on January 9, 2018 and a 27.6 per cent premium on the share price as at close of August 9, 2017 being the last business day prior to the date the initial proposal was received from Affelka.

Most minority shareholders had kicked against the bid but Affelka SA raised its bid price by more than 10 per cent on the eve of the meeting in a carrot-and-stick approach to woo voters at the meeting.

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