Ecobank Nigeria (“ENG” or “the Bank”), an entirely owned subsidiary of main pan-African banking large, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’), the mum or dad firm of the Ecobank Group, introduced that it has efficiently priced its $300 million bond issuance maturing in February 2026, with settlement of the bond to happen on 16 February 2021.
The fixed-rate, US dollar-denominated bond, with a tenor of 5 years, carries a coupon charge of seven.125% and will probably be listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is accompanied by an Issuer Rating of B- from Fitch Rating Agency and S & P.
The coupon / yield represents the bottom ever coupon / yield achieved by a Nigerian monetary establishment for a benchmark bond transaction. At the height of selling the transaction, the difficulty was over 3 instances oversubscribed, with important curiosity from worldwide traders.
The transaction opened with Initial Price Thoughts (‘IPT’s’) of seven.75% and at last tightened to shut at 7.125% on the again of strong demand. The power and depth of the guide demonstrated world traders’ robust urge for food for the Ecobank franchise in Nigeria, a testomony to the power of the Ecobank Group.
This transaction is the primary non-sovereign bond from Africa in 2021 and is milestone capital elevate for the banking sector in Nigeria, giving Ecobank entry to world debt capital markets, and extra favorable credit score phrases, commensurate with its robust monetary place and sturdy capital construction. For worldwide traders, it represented a gorgeous possibility to achieve publicity to Nigeria.
This transaction adopted a sequence of digital world investor calls, with quite a lot of blue-chip native, regional and worldwide monetary establishments, led by Citi, Mashreq, Renaissance Capital and Standard Chartered Bank as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners.
Commenting on the issuance, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan, Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, mentioned: “Despite the challenging global environment owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the back of a successful NGN 50bn Tier 2 issuance in December 2020, ENG was able to successfully issue and price Nigeria’s first 2021 senior unsecured 5 year bond transaction.
“Ecobank Nigeria, through this issuance, is being proactive in optimizing its capital structure as it continues to drive its medium term growth strategy of establishing itself as a leading facilitator of pan-Africa and international trade and payments.”
Mr. Akinwuntan continued, “I would like to extend my appreciation to our regulators, the Central Bank of Nigeria, for their timely support and continuous guidance, in granting necessary regulatory approvals.”
He additional added: “We believe that our capital raising activities are key steps forward towards strengthening ENG beyond the regulatory ratios in addition to diversifying ENG’s medium-term financing sources. ENG is poised for continued growth in the Nigerian financial services industry.”
