Nigeria's Zenith Bank appoints JP Morgan for London listing

Nigeria's Zenith Bank has appointed JP Morgan to facilitate a secondary listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange, the lender said on Wednesday.

The listing is planned to be through a Global Depository Receipt (GDR), a tool used to facilitate investments and trading in the shares of companies from emerging markets.

The top-tier lender said it will seek shareholders' approval for the listing on Nov. 21 and that one GDR will represent 50 ordinary shares in the local bank.

Zenith already has a primary listing in Nigeria and has a market capitalisation of $3.6 billion.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval, the bank said, adding that it wanted to improve liquidity for its shares with the transaction and not to raise capital.

"Listing on the LSE creates new opportunities for increasing ... liquidity in our securities ... and diversification of our investor base," Godwin Emefiele, Zenith's chief executive said in a statement.

Zenith Bank joins the league of four other Nigerian lenders -- Guaranty Trust Bank, Diamond Bank, UBA and First Bank -- with GDRs trading in London or New York.

-Reuters