Nigeria GTBank's shareholders approve $1.3 bln bond

LAGOS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB.LG) obtained shareholders' approval on Thursday to raise a 200 billion naira ($1.32 billion) bond, a bank spokesman said.

Shareholders approved the plan at a meeting in the commercial hub of Lagos two weeks after the central bank sacked the directors of five weakly-capitalised banks and bailed them out with $2.6 billion to stem a systemic crisis.

"The shareholders gave their approval for the entire amount today and ask the bank to go ahead with the issuance," said GT Bank spokesman Femi Adeniran, without giving further details.

The bank said in a notice on July 31 that the tranche sizes and dates of the issue would be determined by the directors, but gave no details on what the funds would be used for. [nLV407828]

GTBank is the second Nigerian lender to obtain shareholders' approval in the last month to raise debt in what would be the first corporate bonds in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy in three years.

First Bank (FBNP.LG) last week obtained its shareholders' approval to issue up to 500 billion naira of bonds in tranches.[nLR209329]

Nigerian companies have not ventured into the corporate bond market for several years because of the high cost of issuing debt and tax concerns. Access Bank (ACCE.LG) was the last institution to do so, with its 13.5 billion naira bond in October 2006. (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Tume Ahemba and Rupert Winchester)