Ibile Holdings Limited, the Lagos State Government’s investment vehicle, has increased its stake in LASACO Assurance Plc to 51 per cent, becoming the insurer’s majority shareholder following a major rights issue that expanded its share capital.
An analysis of LASACO’s nine-month financial statements for 2026 shows that the company’s issued shares rose from 11.08 billion at the end of December 2025 to 20.32 billion as of September 30, 2026, following the issuance of 9.24 billion new shares.
The rights issue, priced at N2 per share on the basis of five new shares for every six held, significantly altered the company’s ownership structure, increasing the concentration of shares among its two largest shareholders.
Ibile Holdings raised its stake from 45.93 per cent to 51 per cent, while Canon Properties and Investments Limited increased its holding from 24.66 per cent to 36.21 per cent.
Together, the two shareholders now control 87.21 per cent of LASACO, up from 70.58 per cent at the end of 2025, leaving a smaller proportion of the company’s shares available for public trading.
The two major shareholders collectively held 17.72 billion shares as of September 30, 2026, compared with 7.82 billion shares at the end of the previous year.
Their combined ownership increased by 16.63 percentage points within nine months, reflecting the impact of the rights issue on LASACO’s shareholder structure.
Meanwhile, De-Lexus Investment Limited, which held 875 million shares, representing 7.89 per cent of the company at the end of 2025, was recorded as holding no shares in the September 2026 substantial-shareholding disclosure.
Although the number of shares classified as free float rose from 2.39 billion to 2.60 billion, their proportion of the enlarged share capital fell from 21.52 per cent to 12.78 per cent.
The decline reflects the faster growth in total issued shares and the increased holdings of the two largest shareholders.
LASACO acknowledged the issue in its nine-month filing, stating that it was working towards meeting the Nigerian Exchange’s free-float requirements for companies listed on its Main Board.
The ownership changes coincided with a significant recovery in LASACO’s financial performance, as the insurer returned to profitability in the nine months ended September 30, 2026.
Insurance revenue increased by 3.70 per cent to N23.81 billion from N22.96 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
However, the strongest improvement came from lower insurance service expenses and reduced net expenses from reinsurance contracts held.
The insurance service result swung from a loss of N2.44 billion in the first nine months of 2025 to a profit of N5.84 billion in the review period, an improvement of N8.28 billion.
Insurance service expenses fell by 22.79 per cent to N15.45 billion from N20.01 billion, while net expenses from reinsurance contracts held declined to N2.52 billion from N5.38 billion.
Consequently, profit before tax rose to N1.60 billion from a loss of N4.72 billion, while profit after tax recovered to approximately N1.25 billion from a loss of N4.81 billion.
The insurer’s balance sheet also strengthened during the period. Cash and cash equivalents increased to N33.76 billion from N14.82 billion at the end of December 2025, while shareholders’ funds rose to N39.71 billion from N20.36 billion.
The increases were supported by proceeds from the equity issuance.
However, operating cash flow remained negative at N416.82 million, although this was a substantial improvement on the N9.64 billion outflow recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
