London Stock Exchange has admitted Nigeria’s $1 billion Eurobond to start trading in London. The 15 year government bond, paying a coupon of 7.875 per cent, is the longest ever maturity for an international Nigerian bond, the first international issuance for the country since 2013.
The offer was nearly eight times oversubscribed, with the order book closing at approximately $7.7 billion compared to a pre-issuance target of US$ 1.0 billion.The listing secured high quality investor support from across the US and Europe and will support Nigeria in financing its long term infrastructure projects.
Yesterday’s listing builds on the recent pipeline of several high profile sovereign, supranational, municipal and private company bond issuances on London Stock Exchange. In January 2017, Israel listed its largest ever Eurobond offering of €2.25 billion in London.
Commenting on development, International Markets Unit, Head of Middle East, Africa and South Asia, London Stock Exchange, Ibukun Adebayo said, “Nigeria’s choice of London Stock Exchange for its first international bond offering since 2013 underlines London Stock Exchange’s position as a leading global venue for debt fund raising and London’s enduring status as a market open to the world.
“The success of Nigeria’s bond listing is a strong statement of international investor interest in building exposure to Nigeria’s economy. It reinforces London Stock Exchange’s status as a strong partner to Nigeria and the city’s ability to provide a deep additional channel of finance for the development of Nigerian infrastructure and the growth of the economy.”
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, said “I am delighted that the Nigerian government has chosen London as the location to list its $1 billion sovereign bond.
“This issuance underlines Britain’s position as the world’s leading global financial centre and strengthens our economic and financial relationship with Nigeria,”he said.
Minister of finance had earlier stated that Federal Government would apply for the Notes to be eligible for trading and listed on the Nigerian FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Nigeria has been in search for the ways out of the difficult economic time facing it as oil prices at international market depreciates. Also economic indices especially inflation continue to increase.
Meanwhile,
Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed for the week on Friday on a positive note, with the turnover volume appreciating by 232.43 per cent, while market indices grew by 0.44 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of 480 million shares valued at N1.98 billion were exchanged by investors in 2,713 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 144.39 million shares worth N1.54 billion transacted by investors in 2,303 deals on Thursday.
NAN reports that Staco Insurance drove the activity chart with an exchange of 252.12 million shares worth N126.06 million.
United Capital followed having accounted for 61.96 million shares valued at N24.88 million and Zenith International Bank traded 59.53 million shares worth N893.06 million.
FCMB Group sold 21.29 million shares valued at N27.53 million and FBN Holdings traded 15.19 million shares worth N50.33 million.
In the same vein, the market indicators closed higher with a growth of 0.44 per cent due to price appreciation recorded by some highly capitalised stocks.
An analysis of the price movement table indicated that Total Nigeria led the gainers’ table gaining N2.90 to close at N273.01 per share.
