United Bank for Africa (UBA) has successfully raised ₦178.3 billion through a rights issue, lifting its capital base above the ₦500 billion minimum required for Tier 1 banks with international licences under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recapitalisation framework.
The bank confirmed the milestone after concluding the rights offer in September 2025, marking a major step toward early compliance with the CBN’s directive, which has a March 31, 2026 deadline.
The latest raise builds on UBA’s ₦239 billion rights issue completed in November 2024, which had increased its capital base to ₦355.2 billion. With the additional ₦178.3 billion, UBA has now crossed the ₦500 billion threshold, placing it among the first Nigerian banks to fully meet the new capital requirement and strengthening its competitive position locally and across its international markets.
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Details of the offer show that the bank received 6,404 valid acceptances for 3,566,081,624 shares valued at ₦178.3 billion. This comprised 6,399 standard rights issue applications and five traded rights totalling 10,462 shares. Invalid applications amounted to 568,666,066 shares valued at ₦28.43 billion, bringing total application valid and invalid to 4,134,747,690 shares.
Full acceptances were recorded from 6,293 submissions covering 453,578,211 shares, while partial acceptances accounted for 106 applications involving 135,274,777 shares. The rights issue was priced at ₦50 per share for 3,156,869,665 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, offered to shareholders on the register as of July 16, 2025.
PAC Registrars and Investor Services Limited, the registrar to the offer, disclosed that investors’ CSCS accounts will be credited by February 7, 2026, while surplus subscription funds are expected to be refunded by January 13, 2026.
Analysts say the successful recapitalisation significantly strengthens UBA’s ability to fund large-scale projects, support balance sheet growth and deepen its international footprint. The enlarged capital base is also seen as a positive signal to investors, reinforcing confidence in the bank’s financial resilience and long-term growth prospects.
Shareholding data as of June 30, 2025, show that no single shareholder holds more than 5 per cent of UBA’s issued share capital, except Heirs Holdings Limited with 2.12 billion shares (5.15 per cent) and UBA Nominees with 2.57 billion shares (6.27 per cent). Heirs Holdings is owned by billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu, who also serves as UBA’s chairman.
UBA’s nine-month unaudited results for 2025 showed profit after tax of ₦537.5 billion, representing a 2.33 per cent increase from ₦525 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024. Gross earnings rose by 2.96 per cent to ₦2.5 trillion, driven largely by growth in interest income.
With the rights issue completed, UBA has not only met the CBN’s recapitalisation benchmark well ahead of schedule but has also reinforced its capacity to sustain growth, enhance shareholder value and maintain its position as one of Nigeria’s leading banking groups with a strong international presence.
