FCMB Group Plc has launched a N160 billion public share sale to strengthen its banking subsidiary and meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new N500 billion minimum capital requirements to keep its international banking licence.

The offering of 16 billion shares at N10 each runs until November 6, 2025. Proceeds are to be used to recapitalise the banking subsidiary and help the lender to retain its international licence.

The raise follows a N147.5 billion share sale in 2024, the first in 16 years. Last year’s offer was oversubscribed by 33 per cent, with 42,800 investors participating, 92 per cent through digital channels.

Analysts expect momentum to carry into this second phase of FCMB’s three-stage recapitalisation plan. FCMB has posted robust growth, with group profit before tax rising at a 72 per cent compound annual rate between 2022 and 2025. Non-bank subsidiaries delivered a 61 per cent PBT, led by Credit Direct Finance Company Limited, Nigeria’s largest non-bank lender, and FCMB Capital Markets, which topped the FMDQ fixed income league table for bond listing and commercial papers in the first half of 2025.

At group level, digital initiatives continue to underpin growth, with digital revenues growing at more than 58 per cent yearly since 2022, now accounting for 13.9 per cent of gross earnings.

As of June 2025, digital lending stood at nine per cent of the loan book. At a 2025 estimated price-to-book ratio below 0.6x, FCMB stock trades at what analysts describe as a rare mix of deep value and high growth.