Economy
FG to List Nigeria Air on Stock Exchange, Targets IPO in 2019
By Dipo Olowookere
More details are beginning to emerge on the newly launched national carrier for the nation, Nigeria Air.
According to reports, federal government, which announced having five percent stake in the new company, Nigeria Air Limited, said it would run the firm for one year before listing the shares through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Nigeria Air is expected to finally begin operations by December 2018 after obtaining at least five airplanes of the 30 it plans to have.
It was earlier disclosed by the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr Hida Sirika, that about $300 million would be needed to operate the national carrier.
“At start up, government will own majority equity in Nigeria Air Limited Joint Venture company that would be very similar to Nigeria LNG Limited. Nigeria LNG Limited is a huge JV success that is private sector managed so will Nigeria Air Limited.
“After one year of operations, government will through an IPO divest her equity for purchase by Nigerians subject to approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“Government will then retain only five percent equity. The rest of 95 percent equity of Nigeria Air Limited will then be owned by the strategic equity investor and the general public.
“Majority ownership must however remain with Nigerians so that the national carrier can benefit from BASA and other bilateral agreements which require local beneficial ownership as a condition precedent.
“Management of the national carrier will be concessional to the strategic equity investor with no step in rights and management control by government. Signed up acceptance and approval of the management concession agreement will be a condition precedent for the IPO,” the Ministry of Aviation was quoted as saying.
It was disclosed that
He said the project is not shrouded in any secrecy affirming “There is no secrecy. The entire process is guided by the infrastructure concession regulatory commission guidelines/regulations.
Speaking on the $300 million needed to fund Nigeria Air, it was clarified that, “Government is not funding the entire project. It’s just providing start-up capital in the form of an upfront grant/viability gap funding.
“Once the strategic equity investor is in place, they will be expected to build on the initial investment made.”
It was further stated that, “$8 million represents startup capital for offices etc required for takeoff. But $300 million is the entire airline cash flow funding requirements (aircraft, operations and working capital) for three years (2018, 2019 and 2020).
“This funding can be in the form of equity or debt. The financial model estimates cash flow requirements as follows 2018 ($55 million – $8 million is included here), 2019 ($100 million) and 2020 ($145 million).
“In order to ensure take-off of the airline in 2018, the government will provide $55 million upfront grant/viability gap funding to finance startup capital and pay commitment fees for aircraft to be leased for initial operations and deposit for new aircraft whose delivery will begin in 2021.”
Furthermore, it was emphasised that because it’s a PPP, it has three stages – the project development stage, procurement stage and implementation stage. The project development stage was just concluded with the approval of the Outline Business Case, which the ICRC issued a certificate of compliance.
“Once the process gets to the PPP procurement stage, there will be an RFQ, Information Memorandum and RFP bidding process which will be made public, competitive and transparent. It is only after the PPP procurement process that the strategic equity investor will be known.
“At that stage the JV partners will be government and the strategic equity partner. Government’s equity share held in trust for Nigerians will be devolved to Nigerians via an IPO.
“The government will retain only 5% equity, the list of shareholders then will be available to SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. At that point Nigeria Air Ltd becomes a public company subject to SEC, NSE and relevant CAMA rules for public companies.
“All PPP procurement and ownership moves will be made public. Signed up acceptance and approval of the management concession agreement will be a condition precedent for the IPO.”
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited have continued to show excitement for the full-year earnings of companies on the exchange so far.
On Friday, Customs Street further appreciated by 1.01 per cent as more organization released their financial statements for the 2025 fiscal year.
During the session, traders continued their selective trading strategy, with the energy sector going up by 2.47 per cent at the close of business despite profit-taking in the banking counter, which saw its index down by 0.11 per cent.
Yesterday, the insurance space grew by 2.16 per cent, the industrial goods segment expanded by 1.70 per cent, and the consumer goods industry jumped by 0.42 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,722.13 points to 171,727.49 points from 170,005.36 points, and the market capitalisation soared by N1.106 trillion to N110.235 trillion from the N109.129 trillion it ended on Thursday.
Business Post reports that there were 59 appreciating stocks and 19 depreciating stocks on Friday, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Omatek, Deap Capital, and NAHCO gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.64, N6.82, and N136.40 apiece, as Zichis and Austin Laz appreciated by 9.98 per cent each to close at N6.72 and N5.40, respectively.
Conversely, The Initiates depreciated by 9.74 per cent to N19.45, DAAR Communications slumped by 7.32 per cent to N1.90, United Capital crashed by 6.55 per cent to N18.55, Coronation Insurance lost 5.71 per cent to quote at N3.30, and First Holdco shrank by 5.53 per cent to N47.00.
The activity chart showed an improvement in the activity level, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals up by 33.77 per cent, 93.27 per cent, and 10.63 per cent, respectively.
This was because traders transacted 953.8 million shares worth N43.1 billion in 51,005 deals compared with the 713.0 million shares valued at N22.3 billion traded in 46,104 deals a day earlier.
Fidelity Bank was the most active with 92.4 million units sold for N1.8 billion, Chams transacted 69.2 million units valued at N310.9 million, Deap Capital exchanged 59.1 million units worth N382.7 million, Access Holdings traded 57.2 million units valued at N1.3 billion, and Tantalizers transacted 48.6 million units worth N228.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira contracted against the United States Dollar on Friday by 13 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to N1,366.19/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) from the previous day’s value of N1,366.06/$1.
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday by N2.37 to N1,857.75/£1 from the N1,855.38/£1 it was traded on Thursday, and further depleted against the Euro by 57 Kobo to close at N1,612.52/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,611.95/€1.
In the same vein, the exchange rate for international transactions on the GTBank Naira card showed that the Naira lost N8 on the greenback yesterday to N1,383/$1 from the previous day’s N1,375/$1 and at the black market, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Dollar at N1,450/$1.
FX analysts anticipate this trend to persist, primarily influenced by increasing external reserves, renewed inflows of foreign portfolio investments, and a reduction in speculative demand.
In the short term, stability in the FX market is expected to continue, supported by policy interventions and improving market confidence.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves experienced an upward trajectory, increasing by $632.38 million within the week to $46.91 billion from $46.27 billion in the previous week.
The Dollar appreciation this week appears to be largely technical, serving as a correction to the substantial losses experienced from mid- to late January.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market slightly appreciated, with Bitcoin (BTC) climbing near $68,000, up nearly 5 per cent since hitting $60,000 late on Thursday after investor confidence in crypto’s utility as a store of value, inflation hedge, and digital currency faltered.
The sell-off extended beyond crypto, with silver plunging 15 per cent and gold sliding more than 2 per cent. US stocks also fell.
The latest recoup saw the price of BTC up by 4.7 per cent to $67,978.96, as Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 6.3 per cent to $2,021.10, and Ripple (XRP) surged by 9.5 per cent to $1.42.
In addition, Solana (SOL) grew by 7.3 per cent to $85.22, Cardano (ADA) added 6.1 per cent to trade at $0.2683, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 5.4 per cent to $0.0958, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 5.2 per cent to $53.50, and Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 2.3 per cent to $637.79, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices settled higher on Friday as traders worried that this week’s talks between the US and Iran had failed to reduce the risk of a military conflict between the two countries.
Brent crude futures traded at $68.05 a barrel after going up by 50 cents or 0.74 per cent, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $63.55 a barrel due to the addition of 26 cents or 0.41 per cent.
Iran and the US held negotiations in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Friday to overcome sharp differences over Iran’s nuclear programme.
It was reported that the talks had ended with Iran’s foreign minister saying negotiators will return to their capitals for consultations and the talks will continue.
Regardless, the meeting kept investors anxious about geopolitical risk, as Iran wanted to stick to nuclear issues while the US wanted to discuss Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region.
Any escalation of tension between the two nations could disrupt oil flows, since about a fifth of the world’s total consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, as does Iran, which is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to Reuters, Iran objected to the presence of any US Central Command (CENTCOM) or other regional military officials, saying that would jeopardise the process.
The current confrontation was sparked by more than two weeks of unrest in Iran that saw authorities launch a deadly crackdown that killed thousands of civilians and shocked the world. As reports of the deaths trickled out of Iran, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran if any of the tens of thousands of protesters arrested were executed.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s planned oil exports could fall by as much as 35 per cent this month via its main route through Russia, as the country’s top oil company, Tengiz oilfield, slowly recovers from fires at power facilities in January.
ING analysts have pointed out Iran’s neighbour, Iraq, and a disagreement with the US as another bullish factor for oil prices. It seems Iraqi politicians favour Mr Nouri al-Maliki as the country’s next Prime Minister, but the US thinks Mr al-Maliki is too close to Iran. President Trump has already threatened the oil producer with consequences if he emerges as PM.
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