Economy
Stanbic IBTC Assists Dangote Cement With Fresh N50b Commercial Papers
**Records 158% Oversubscription
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Stanbic IBTC Capital and Stanbic IBTC Bank, subsidiaries of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, have partnered with Dangote Cement PLC, Africa’s largest cement producer, to conclude yet another issuance of N50 billion Series 3 and 4 Notes, under the recently established Dangote Cement PLC’s N150 billion CP Programme.
Business Post gathered that the issuance of the Series 3 and 4 Notes closed on Friday, August 17, 2018.
Stanbic IBTC Capital is Sole Arranger of the CP Programme, and acted as Joint Dealer for the Series 3 and 4 Notes, whilst Stanbic IBTC Bank is the
Issuing, Calculation and Paying Agent for all Notes issued under Programme. The Series 3 and 4 Notes will be listed on Nigeria’s FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.
Reflective of Dangote Cement’s top-notch ratings (Aaa/AA+ by Moody’s/GCR), the Series 3 (180-day) and 4 (270-day) notes priced at thin spreads of 25 and 50 basis points over the chosen primary market Sovereign benchmark (OMO rate), to achieve discount rates of 12.40 percent and 12.65 percent respectively.
The N50 billon offering was 158 percent subscribed, with a robust and high quality order book closing at N79 billion.
The order book featured bids from a diversified pool of funds managed by Pension Fund Administrators, Asset Managers, Insurance Companies, Trustees, Registrars, Corporate Treasuries and Private Bank HNI clients. Thus, the level of oversubscription generated from a high quality and diverse order book, also validates DCP’s rich non-bank investor base, achieved through the company’s strategic efforts to broaden and diversify its funding sources.
Funds raised in the CP Programme are to be used the company’s working capital and general corporate purposes.
Speaking in relation to the highly successful offering, Kobby Bentsi-Enchill, the Executive Director and Head, Debt Capital Markets, Stanbic IBTC Capital, expressed delight that Dangote Cement was able to achieve yet another landmark CP issuance, within 6 weeks of its inaugural offering.
According to Mr Bentsi-Enchill, Stanbic IBTC Capital is committed, in line with the Stanbic IBTC Group’s value proposition and investment banking pedigree, to assist our clients with high quality advisory and arranging services that enhances their growth and expansion prospects by providing access to a diverse range of financing options within the domestic capital markets.
“Stanbic IBTC Capital will continue to exploit opportunities that support our clients with access to critical funding, short and long term, for their needs. This, we expect, will help stimulate growth via the mobilisation of debt and equity capital market instruments,” Bentsi-Enchill said.
“We will continue to leverage our excellent investment banking pedigree as well as the strength of our franchise in the Standard Bank Group, the largest financial institution in Africa, to consummate such big ticket deals that will not only help businesses grow but also help deepen our capital markets” Bentsi-Enchill added.
Group Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement PLC, Engineer Joseph Oyeyani Makoju, expressed the company’s satisfaction with the choice of Stanbic IBTC as a preferred partner, considering the financial institution’s strong pedigree and expertise in investment banking.
On the issuance, Mr Makoju stated that, “This landmark transaction, even more impressive than our first outing, remains still the largest-ever Commercial Paper issuance by a corporate issuer in Nigeria.
“In addition to helping us achieve our strategic objective of broadening our sources of funding, we have also made remarkable strides towards lowering our overall cost of borrowing.”
Mr Makoju added that, “The success of this Programme reflects the high quality of our business and its strong cash generation capacity, made possible by our market leading positions in Nigeria and across Sub-Saharan Africa, where demand for cement is growing rapidly.”
The establishment of the Dangote Cement PLC Commercial Paper Programme is another testament to Stanbic IBTC Capital’s industry leadership in investment banking, issuing house and financial advisory services.
Stanbic IBTC has played a pivotal role in the resurgence of commercial paper in Nigeria following the release of guidelines on the issuance of the corporate debt financing solution by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Dangote Cement was advised by Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited as Sole Arranger for the CP Programme, and Joint Dealer in respect of the Series 3 and 4 Notes, whereas Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC acts as the Issuing Calculation and Paying Agent for all Notes issued under the Programme.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the removal of petrol subsidy saved Nigeria N15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
Mr Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference, where he provided a breakdown of the financial impact of the federal government’s economic reforms under President Bola Tinubu, the same day that the campaign for the 2027 presidential elections commenced.
He said the subsidy savings were reflected in the resources available to the federation, although they did not appear as a separate credit to the federation account under the description “subsidy savings”.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation.
“Many people will say, where is the subsidy savings? As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any alert to the Federation Account with the description ‘subsidy savings’,” Mr Oyedele said.
According to the minister, the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments through the Federation Account.
Mr Oyedele said the government’s overall financial position during the period also reflected increased independent revenue and borrowing to fund its expenditure.
He said the federal government generated N3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, largely from remittances by government-owned entities and increased surpluses from government agencies.
The government also borrowed an additional N11.9 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
“People will say, you said you have exceeded your revenue, why are you still borrowing?” Mr Oyedele said, “The additional borrowing that the federal government took for that period of time, June 2023 to December 2025, amounted to N11.9 trillion.”
According to him, the combination of incremental independent revenue and additional borrowing brought the Federal Government’s incremental resources during the period to N20.4 trillion.
However, he said total incremental expenditure stood at N30.64 trillion.
Mr Oyedele said the figures demonstrated the fiscal implications of the reforms, which were introduced to address long-standing economic distortions and reduce pressure on government finances.
“The administration of President Bola Tinubu has embarked on major reforms to address age-long economic challenges,” he said.
He identified the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market as key measures undertaken by the administration.
“The removal of fuel subsidy, which was quietly bankrupting the country, and the unification of an exchange rate system that had become a source of distortion and corruption rather than stability.
“Those decisions came at a cost, and we are not here to implement otherwise. What does reform cost?” Mr Oyedele questioned.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened further by 1.75 per cent on Tuesday, August 18, triggered by losses recorded by the duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Food Concepts Plc.
CSCS Plc, the Nigerian securities depository company, lost N8.48 to settle at N90.02 per share compared with the previous value of N98.50 per share, while Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of fast food franchise, Chicken Republic, dropped 15 Kobo to end at N2.35 per unit versus N2.50 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Security Index (NSI) further declined by 77.26 points to 4,348.76 points from Monday’s 4,426.02 points, while the market capitalisation dipped by N46.37 billion to N2.610 trillion from N2.656 trillion.
During the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors slumped by 82.6 per cent to 113,728 units from the previous session’s 652,081 units, and the value of securities slid by 12.4 per cent to N9.4 million from the preceding day’s N10.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 47.6 per cent to 31 deals from 21 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.7 million units transacted for N5.8 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Nigerian Naira further appreciated against the US Dollar by N6.22 or 0.46 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, August 18, to N1,343.32/$1 from the previous rate of N1,349.54/$1.
This occurred amid steady growth in Nigeria’s external reserves, rising to $52.32 billion as of August 17, 2026, giving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) enough arsenal to defend the local currency when the need arises in the FX market.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N10.85 to close at N1,819.26/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,830.11/£1, and gained N8.55 on the Euro to sell at N1,556.24/€1 versus Monday’s N1,564.79/€1.
In the same vein, the Naira appreciated against the Dollar in the black market during the trading session by N5 to quote at N1,390/$1, in contrast to the N1,395/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and strengthened at the GTBank forex desk by N7 to N1,357/$1 from N1,364/$1.
NAFEM interbank FX turnover declined as financial institutions’ activities moderated. Interbank FX turnover dropped by 16.6 per cent to $364.709 million from $437.529 million, with the number of deals down by 39.3 per cent to 108 deals from 178 deals.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $64,120.36, as most other major cryptocurrencies closed in the green amid a global selloff in chip stocks.
An Asian semiconductor gauge dropped more than 3 per cent, following a 5 per cent slide in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Tuesday, its worst session since late July, while investors await US Federal Reserve minutes and are widely expecting no rate change in September.
Solana (SOL) gained 1.4 per cent to sell at $76.66, Cardano (ADA) added 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.1748, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.6 per cent to $1,905.54, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to sell at $0.9986, TRON (TRX) improved by 0.3 per cent to $0.3327, and Dogecoin (DOGE) soared by 0.2 per cent to $0.0698.
However, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.4 per cent to $600.88, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
