Union Bank Sells N20bn Commercial Paper to Pension Managers, Others

By Dipo Olowookere

Mid-level lender, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, has commenced the sale of commercial papers worth N20 billion to be used for further working capital as it delivers on its promise to be the country’s most trusted and reliable banking partner.

Business Post gathered that the CP sale commenced on Thursday, January16, 2020 and will close on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. They debt instrument would be offered across two tenors, 180-day and 268-day for Series 3 and 4 respectively.

It was learned that the N20 billion paper issuance is under the N100 billion Commercial Paper programme registered by the financial institution in 2018.

In January 2019, the lender sold the first set of the notes; the Series 1 and 2, where the sum of N24.3 billion was raised from the domestic capital markets.

Union Bank, one of the oldest banks in Nigeria, said this commercial paper sale is targeted at institutional investors, including pension and non-pension asset managers, as well as eligible high net-worth investors.

Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Union Capital Markets Limited have been selected as the dealers on the commercial paper issuance by the Union Bank. After the exercise, the notes would be listed on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange platform for trading at the secondary market.

But Union Bank stressed that, “The new funding is expected to provide the bank with further working capital as it delivers on its promise to be Nigeria’s most trusted and reliable banking partner.”

Union Bank is one of Nigeria’s leading financial service institutions, with approximately 5.6 million active customers serviced across 280 branches and cash centres nationwide, an asset base of over N1.8 trillion and total equity in excess of N240 billion as at September 30, 2019. The bank has been assigned ratings of A-(Agusto & Co.); A-(DataPro); BBB+ (GCR).

The lender is focused on retail, commercial and corporate banking businesses. In addition to standard current and savings product portfolio, the bank has launched pioneering products into the Nigerian retail market including UnionKorrect, UnionGoal and UnionBetta.