FG prices $500m notes at 7.5% yield

The federal government has announced that it has priced its offering of US$500 million aggregate principal amount of notes at a yield of 7.5% under its US$1.5 billion Global Medium Term Note programme.

With the new development, the notes would be consolidated and form a single series with the country’s existing US$1,000,000,000 7.875 per cent which was recently listed at the London Stock Exchange.

A statement from the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, signed by Salisu Na’inna Danbatta said the successful pricing, which is priced 37.5bps inside the original coupon rate, demonstrated continued strong market appetite for Nigerian securities.

This, despite continued volatility in emerging and frontier markets showed confidence by the international investment community in Nigeria’s economic reform agenda.

When issued, the notes would be admitted alongside the Original Notes to the official list of the UK Listing authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s regulated market. Nigeria may apply for the notes to be eligible for trading or listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and Financial Markets Dealers Quotations Over-the-Counter Securities Exchange.

Commenting following the successful pricing, Mrs Adeosun said: “The proceeds from this additional note issuance will go towards funding capital projects in the 2016 budget.

“Infrastructure spending is at the heart of our National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which was released earlier this month and guides how we will deliver the urgent reform our economy needs between now and 2020. Resetting the Nigerian economy is essential in order for us to deliver sustainable long term growth,” she stated.