By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The N10 billion commercial paper put up for sale by Fidson Healthcare Plc has closed, Business Post reports.
The drug manufacturing firm offered the debt instrument to investors under its N25 billion commercial paper programme.
Subscriptions for Series 9 and 10 commenced on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, and ended on Monday, April 29, 2024.
Series 9 of the CP with 180-day maturity was sold at a discounted rate of 19.85 per cent and Series 10 with 270-day tenor was offered at 21.46 per cent.
Fidson went to the capital market to raise the funds to support its short-term working funding requirements. The minimum subscription for the exercise was N5 million and multiples of N1,000 thereafter.
The pharmaceutical company is one of the leading players in the sector in Nigeria. It engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of pharmaceutical and healthcare products in Nigeria and West Africa.
The firm currently has over 250 duly registered pharmaceutical brands, across different therapeutic areas, in the Nigerian market.
For the year ended 2023, Fidson recorded N53.1 billion in sales, a 31 per cent increase over the N40.6 billion recorded in the previous year.
The company has a wide range of over 150 high-quality, unique and innovative products that cover therapeutic areas ranging from infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, antimalarials, antiretrovirals, psychiatry, nutrition, nutraceuticals, antitussives etc. About 60% of these are made locally and the balance is imported.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka