By Dipo Olowookere
The N7 billion bond issued recently by C&I Leasing Plc was oversubscribed by 33 percent, the company has disclosed.
The bond offering, which officially commenced on May 21, closed on June 4, 2018 and was a five-year fixed rate senior secured bond.
C&I Leasing Plc is the biggest and oldest leasing firm in Nigeria, supplying patrol boats and tugboats to Shell, Mobil, Chevron and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s operating unit, via long-term contracts.
Speaking recently at the signing ceremony with issuing houses, trustees and other partners, Chairman of C&I Leasing, Mr Chukwuma Okolo, said the company plans to use a significant part of the money raised from the series to finance maturing bank loans and scale up its services in the oil and gas sector.
He said further that the firm plans to use the funds raised to buy more vessels to lease to oil companies and expand its business in Ghana as Dubai-based private equity firm, Abraaj, exits.
At the monent, C&I Leasing has 23 vessels and competes with French rival, Bourbon Offshore.
The company is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and its core investors are also directors, owning 56 percent of the shares, while the rest is free-float.
“We had an extremely successful outing and had 133 percent subscription to our required N7 billion. But of course, as a disciplined company, we are accepting what we set out to raise.
“With this, the company’s debt ratio will be cut to 70 percent from 80 percent, and it will be able to redeem a $2.4 million loan we got from Aureous Capital, now part of the Abraaj Group,” Mr Okolo said.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka