BUA Cement’s N115bn bond listed as NGX era begins

The Nigerian Exchange Limited has listed BUA Cement Plc’s N115 billion 7-Year Series 1 Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bond issue – the first listing in the NGX era, which began on Monday.

The listing was commemorated with a digital Closing Gong ceremony featuring the Chief Executive Officer, BUA Cement Plc, Mr Yusuf Haliru Binji, according to a statement by NGX.

Speaking during the ceremony, the Divisional Head, Listings Business, NGX Limited, Mr Olumide Bolumole, said, “In line with its commitment to support Nigeria’s economic growth by providing a liquid, efficient, and multi-asset securities exchange hub, NGX Limited continues to provide a platform that offers investors varied options including equity, fixed income, exchanged traded products and other funds.

“We are, therefore, excited about BUA Cement’s debut bond offering, which was oversubscribed by 37 percent to the tune of N137.82 billion and represents the largest amount raised by a corporate issuer in the history of Nigeria’s debt capital market. Without a doubt, this is a testament to the high level of confidence placed on this reputable brand by its investors and the entire market.”  

On his part, the CEO thanked the management of NGX Limited for the invitation to bring trading activities to a close.

He said, “Today marks another key milestone on our journey to becoming the preferred cement manufacturer in Africa. As part of our growth strategy, we took the deliberate decision to access the debt capital market with the intent to raise N100 billion in the first tranche of our N200 billion programme.

“Given the overwhelming response and in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidelines, we accepted N115 billion as the total subscription amount. For us this was clear assessment of our viable business model, strong financial performance, and the strength of our product offerings.”  

Speaking on behalf of the parties to the transaction, the Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Mr Funso Akere, said, “We are, extremely delighted to have advised BUA Cement Plc on this landmark transaction where they took advantage of very supportive conditions in the debt capital market to raise long term funding.

“On behalf of Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Tiddo Securities and Union Capital, we would like to thank BUA Cement for giving us a freehand to guide them and the commitment showed to make the transaction a phenomenal success. We would also like to thank NGX for giving us a platform to list the bonds.”  

NGX has reiterated its commitment to providing issuers with a platform that allows them to continue to raise capital even in the toughest of times whilst also facilitating secondary market trading activities.  

The Nigerian Stock Exchange recently completed its demutualisation, which led to the creation of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, as the non-operating holding company with three operating subsidiaries, namely Nigerian Exchange Limited, the operating exchange; NGX Regulation Limited, the independent regulatory arm of the Exchange; and NGX Real Estate Limited, the real estate company.