By Dipo Olowookere
The federal government went to the debt market on Wednesday to raise some funds through the issuance of local bonds to interested investors.
The exercise was conducted on behalf of the government by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and two tenors were auctioned to subscribers.
According to results of the bond sale released by the DMO, the notes auctioned yesterday were the 15-year bond and the 25-year bond, both reopening.
During the exercise, N30.0 billion worth of the 15-year instrument with an actual maturity of 14 years and 3 months was auctioned, while another N30.0 billion was offered for sale for the 25-year bond with an actual tenor of 24 years and 7 months.
The debt office noted that 67 bids worth N90.9 billion were received for the 12.50% FGN MAR 2035 paper, while 52 bids worth N43.2 billion were received for the 9.80% FGN JUL 2045 paper.
However, the DMO allotted N20.0 billion for the 15-year instrument at 6.95 per cent marginal rate and N10.0 billion sold for the 25-year instrument at 7.00 per cent marginal rate.
The federal government goes to the bond market to raise funds with the debt securities mostly two times every month.
At the first week of the month, it sells the FGN savings bond and before the end of the month, it auctions the FGN sovereign bonds.
The major difference between the two bonds is the target investors as the savings bond is mainly for retail investors and with a minimum of N5,000, it can be purchased and the maturity is not more than three years.
However, the FGN bonds are mainly for high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors and the lowest tenor is five years with the maximum presently at 30 years.
