Foremost brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, has given hint of its plan to obtain an intercompany loan of €110 million (one hundred and ten million Euros) from its parent company, Heineken International.
A seal of approval for the facility will be sought when shareholders of the company converge in Lagos on Wednesday, 26th April 2023 for its 77th Annual General Meeting.
Company Secretary, Uaboi G. Agbebaku, Esq., in a notification to all stakeholders, disclosed that the loan is being sought to enable the company to settle the overdue payments and ensure business continuity, amongst others.
“Due to the unavailability of Foreign Exchange (“Forex”) at the official window and rate, the Company has accumulated overdue foreign currency-denominated payment obligations for business-critical imports,” the notice indicated.
It further noted that “in compliance with the NGX Rules on Related Party Transactions, the approval of the shareholders of the Company is being sought for the proposed loan, given that the value of the transaction is more than 5% of the Net Tangible Assets of the Company.”
Also, in line with the NGX Rules on Related Party Transactions, Heineken has undertaken to ensure that its proxies, representatives, or associates shall abstain from voting on the resolution approving the loan as well as the general mandate given to the Company to enter into recurrent transactions with related parties for the Company’s day-to-day operations, including amongst others the procurement of goods and services, on normal commercial terms be and is hereby renewed.
Other issues listed for deliberations at the meeting include:
- To lay before the Meeting, the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December, 2022 and the Reportsof the Directors, the Independent Auditor, and the Audit Committee thereon
- To declare a dividend
- To elect and re-elect Directors
- To authorise the Directors to fix the remuneration of the Independent Auditor
- To elect members of the Audit Committee
- To disclose the remuneration of the Managers, and
- To fix the remuneration of the Directors.
The meeting will be held in the Grand Banquet Hall, Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
