Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
A few days ago, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated informed the investing public that its Nigerian subsidiary, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, was intending to approach the international debt capital market to source for Eurobond worth $300 million.
On Thursday, the pan-African lender again issued another notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to announce that the 5-year bond has been priced and was sold for 7.13 per cent.
According to the disclosure, as a result of robust demand and global investors’ strong appetite for the Ecobank franchise in Nigeria, the transaction, which opened with Initial Price Thoughts (IPT’s) of 7.75 per cent, finally settled at 7.13 per cent.
“Despite the challenging global environment owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the back of a successful N50 billion Tier 2 issuance in December 2020, Ecobank Nigeria was able to successfully issue and price Nigeria’s first 2021 senior unsecured 5-year bond transaction,” the Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, said.
Continuing, he noted that through this issuance, Ecobank Nigeria “is being proactive in optimising its capital structure as it continues to drive its medium-term growth strategy of establishing itself as a leading facilitator of pan-Africa and international trade and payments.”
“We believe that our capital raising activities are key steps forward towards strengthening Ecobank Nigeria beyond the regulatory ratios in addition to diversifying Ecobank Nigeria’s medium-term financing sources. Ecobank Nigeria is poised for continued growth in the Nigerian financial services industry,” he concluded.
Business Post reports that the fixed-rate, Dollar-denominated note, which has an Issuer Rating of B-from Fitch and S&P, will be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
It was gathered that at the peak of marketing the paper, it was over 3 times oversubscribed, with significant interest from international investors after a series of virtual global investor calls with a number of blue-chip local, regional and international financial institutions led by Citi, Mashreq, Renaissance Capital and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and book-runners.
