Diamond Bank Plc Seeks Approval For Up To $400M Rights Issue

Diamond Bank Plc Seeks Approval For Up To $400M Rights Issue

May 21 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Diamond Bank is seeking regulatory approval to raise between $300 million and $400 million via a rights issue from existing shareholders, its chief finance officer said on Wednesday.

"We are in the process of filing with the relevant regulatory authorities for a rights issue ... which we expect to conclude by Q3," Diamond Bank's CFO, Abdulrahaman Yinusa, told Reuters.

The mid-tier lender raised $200 million in a debut Eurobond last week, short of its target of between $300 million to $350 million.

Shares in Diamond Bank were down 2.58 percent on Wednesday to 6.42 naira. The shares are down 10.3 percent this year.

Diamond Bank won shareholder approval in April to raise fresh capital in debt and equity and Chief Executive Alex Otti has said the bank aims to raise up to $550 million.

Diamond Bank is targeting a capital adequacy ratio of over 20 percent of assets after the capital injection, from around 17 percent now. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Mark Heinrich)