Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The N50 billion bonds issued by Dangote Cement Plc to investors a few months ago have now been taken to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for listing.
The papers were admitted on the exchange on Tuesday, allowing investors to have different investments options in the nation’s capital market.
Business Post reports that on May 26, 2021, the leading cement maker sold the notes in three tranches at coupon rates of 11.25 per cent, 12.50 per cent and 13.50 per cent for the 3, 5 and 7-year respectively.
It was issued under the cement maker’s N300 billion multi-instrument issuance programme and it received huge acceptance from different investors, including institutional and high-net-worth individuals.
Business Post reports that under the series 1 bond, Dangote Cement had offered for sale N50.0 billion of the tranche A with a 3-year tenor but only N3.6 billion was sold.
The same amount, N50.0 billion, was also offered for the tranche B but only N10.5 billion was sold, while the tranche C had N50.0 billion with N35.9 billion sold, according to details of the transaction.
The book-building commenced on April 23, 2021, and closed on May 6, 2021. The stockbroker for the deal was Meristem Stockbrokers Limited and the issuer has said the interest would be paid to bondholders semi-annually.
Dangote Cement is one of the biggest cement makers in Africa and has a strong dominance of the market on the continent.
In the first six months of 2021, Dangote Cement grew its sales volumes to 15.3Mt, with its local market accounting for 9.87 Mt and pan-African markets contributing 5.5Mt.
This increase was attributed to rising activities in the housing infrastructure and commercial construction and it boosted the post-tax profit to N191.6 billion.
According to the GMD/Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Mr Michel Puchercos, “Our performance reflects the strong demand across the group, with increases in revenue and profitability, compared to the same period last year.
At the time of publishing this report, the shares of Dangote Cement were flat at N240 per unit.
