By Dipo Olowookere
A leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, Fidson Healthcare Plc, is planning to get about N3.5 billion from the capital market.
The firm, which operates a World Health Organisation (WHO) compliant state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, is issuing series 4 commercial paper under its N10 billion commercial paper issuance programme.
Subscription for the exercise started on Friday, March 10, 2023, and will close on Thursday, March 16, 2023.
According to details of the sales, the least of the commercial paper of Fidson investors can purchase is N5 million.
Business Post reports that the tranche of this exercise is 268 days, with a yield of 14.50 per cent.
Funds from this series 4 commercial paper sales would be used to support the company’s short-term working capital and funding requirement.
Fidson is one of the top players in the Nigerian health sector and has maintained an organic growth strategy by investing in research, extensive distribution channels, and product innovation.
The organisation also associates with global partners to deliver high-quality products to its customers and insists on these same values across its entire value chain.
Fidson commenced operations on March 1, 1995, as a local distributor of pharmaceutical products and barely a year after, it began importing its brand of finished medicines, introducing Ciprotab and Peflotab brands of quinolones to the market.
By July 2002, the firm set up its first local manufacturing facility and later became the first company in sub-Saharan Africa to manufacture Antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs in March 2005.
In February 2007, Fidson set up a second manufacturing facility and ceded the former manufacturing facility to an international joint venture project, which led to the setting up of Ecomed Pharma Limited. In November of the same year, the company received the NIS ISO 9001:2000 certification for its Quality Management System from the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON).
Expanding its business further, the company was listed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited to become a publicly quoted company in 2008 and completed its 3rd factory (FPL) in the same year.
Further positioning itself as a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in Nigeria, Fidson completed its 4th factory, an ultra-modern WHO-compliant plant in Ota, Ogun State, in 2016 and increased its capacity to manufacture more products across various therapeutic categories.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale