Fidelity Bank Plc has successfully raised between N250 and N270 billion through a private placement, pushing its qualifying capital well-above the N500 billion minimum stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for banks with international authorisation.
Market sources in the know of the transaction at the weekend said the placement, executed on December 31, 2025, said a huge demand for the bank’s shares, enabling the bank to close the offer within the same day.
With existing verified share capital and share premium of about N306 billion, the new equity injection lifted Fidelity Bank’s minimum capital beyond the N500 billion threshold required under the CBN’s revised capital framework.
Sources described the one-day private placement as unprecedented, noting that Nigerian capital market rules allow issuers up to 10 days for private placements and six weeks for public offer and rights issue. Issuers are also allowed to seek for extensions. Most of the recent offers had sought for extensions due to market conditions.
The sources said subscriptions to the Fidelity Bank’s private placement were restricted to a select group of investors whose profiles aligned with the bank’s brand positioning, growth strategy and broader corporate objectives.
The subscriptions pattern, like in previous private placement by the bank, suggested investor base of top-rated global institutional investors.
READ ALSO; Tears, tributes at Anthony Joshua’s friends’ funeral prayer in London
The successful recapitalisation of the tier 1 bank came nearly three months ahead of the March 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline.
While the bank and its advisers await final regulatory clearance from the CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), market watchers said the successful fundraise has effectively de-risked Fidelity Bank’s recapitalisation programme and positioned it for post-recapitalisation growth.
Efforts to obtain official comments from the bank were unsuccessful, as executives declined to speak, citing regulatory restrictions.
In March 2024, the CBN revised minimum capital requirements across the banking sector, setting N500 billion for international commercial banks, N200 billion for national banks and N50 billion for regional banks. The 24-month compliance window ends on March 31, 2026.
Analysts said the scale and speed of the Fidelity Bank transaction further validated the bank’s standing among Tier 1 Bank.
In its most recent rating action, Fitch Ratings affirmed Fidelity Bank’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at ‘B’ and upgraded its National Long-Term Rating to ‘A+(nga)’, citing stronger capital buffers and improved profitability.
Fitch also noted the bank’s expanding franchise, sound operating fundamentals and healthy foreign-currency liquidity position, describing Fidelity Bank as Nigeria’s sixth-largest lender by assets at the end of 2024.
Market experts said beyond capital adequacy, private placements offer strategic advantages, including access to long-term institutional capital, governance depth and specialised expertise, reinforcing banks’ competitiveness in an increasingly globalised financial landscape.