The board of Capital Hotel Plc has resigned en masse after 22 Hospitality Limited acquired a majority stake in the company through private placement.
22 Hospitality Limited acquired 2,090,199,140 Ordinary Shares of 50 kobo each, representing 66.13% of the equity stake in Capital Hotel, a statement to investing public and the capital market authority, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) shows.
About 1,611,995,510 shares from the acquired stake, representing 51% of the equity share capital of Capital Hotel, were bought from private placement, while 456,641,337 shares, which equates to 14.45%, was bought from Hans Gremlin Nigeria Limited through Offer for Sale.
The document obtained by Prime Business Africa also disclosed that 21,562,293 shares of the total acquired stake were purchased from Associated Ventures International Limited through Offer for Sale.
It was gathered that the acquisition led to resignation of five board directors; Anthony Idigbe (Chairman); Alexander Thomopulos; Fadeke Olugbemi; Helen Da-Souza; and Akpofure Ibru.
They were replaced by Ramesh Kansagra, Non-Executive Director (Chairman); Rishi Kansagra – Non-Executive Director; Ravi Bachu – Executive Director; Aminu Abdulkadir- Non-Executive Director; Chief Paul Obi, – Non-Executive Director; and Pascal Demarchi – Executive Director.
The Kansagra family are known for investment in oil and property markets. Ramesh is also the chairman of 11 Plc, formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria, which acquired Lagos Continental Hotel through its subsidiary company, 11 Hospitality Limited.
Capital Hotel’s premier and only hotel, the Sheraton Abuja Hotel, commenced business in January 1990. The hotel operates and maintains restaurants, apartments for letting, recreational facilities, night club and a business centre.