Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Nigeria said it is proud to have worked alongside Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) to facilitate the largest corporate bond issuance in the history of the Nigerian capital markets.
The landmark N187.58 billion Series 1 issuance is aimed at part-financing the completion of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project, a key infrastructure project for Nigeria and West Africa, which is currently scheduled to commence operations in the first half of 2023, RMB said in a statement seen on its website Monday.
“RMB Nigeria acted as a joint issuing house and book runner on this milestone transaction and remains a trusted adviser to Dangote Industries. RMB provided valuable advice in the evaluation, marketing, and execution of the transaction,” the statement read.
Dangote Industries is a diversified, and fully integrated conglomerate with operations in Nigeria and Africa with 11 distinct business lines across a wide range of industries; including cement, sugar, salt, condiments, packaging, energy, fertiliser, and petrochemicals.
Dangote Industries via its funding vehicle, Dangote Industries Funding Plc, sought to raise N150 billion via the Series 1 bond offer with the option to upsize under its N300 billion Debt Issuance Programme.
The Series 1 bond offer consisted of Tranche A 7-year and Tranche B 10-year, Senior Unsecured Fixed Rate Bonds (the Bond).
Despite rising yields and a tightening liquidity environment, the bond was well received by the market and recorded participation from a wide range of investors including domestic pension funds administrators (PFAs), asset managers, banks, insurance companies, and high net-worth investors.
The total bids received was N198.18 billion representing a subscription of 1.33x of which N187.58 billion was within the advised price range.
The remarkable participation is a clear demonstration of the strength and acceptance of the Dangote Industries brand, the trust placed by the investor community in Dangote Industries leadership, strong financial performance, and corporate strategy.
Chidi Iwuchukwu, co-head banking division, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, commented “we are delighted to have worked on this landmark transaction and are grateful to the Board and Management of Dangote Industries Limited for appointing us as Joint Issuing House and Bookrunner.
The success of the transaction reflects the strong credit quality of Dangote Industries Limited and the growing resilience of the Nigerian debt capital markets. We remain a long-term partner and trusted adviser to Dangote Industries Limited and its subsidiary companies.”
RMB Nigeria has over 15 years of transactional experience in Nigeria ranging from advisory on infrastructure projects, and execution of key merger and acquisition mandates, to the provision of innovative and bespoke funding solutions to support transactions across a range of sectors.
As part of the corporate and investment banking division of the FirstRand Group, the largest listed financial services group (by market capitalisation) in Africa, RMB’s business strategy leverages a market-leading origination franchise to deliver an integrated value proposition to corporate and institutional clients across Africa.
