Nova Merchant Bank will on Thursday, June 3, 2021 list its N10billion bond on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). It is the NOVAMBL Investments SPV Plc N10billion Series I, 7-year 12percent subordinate unsecured fixed rate bond due 2027 under the company’s N50billion Bond Issuance Programme.
The Nova bond listing on the NGX will be marked with a Digital Closing Gong Ceremony. The Closing Gong Ceremony is a specialised platform hosted to mark the close of trading while commemorating events and raising awareness on notable issues of local and global concern.
NOVA Merchant Bank offers an integrated suite of financial solutions covering Wholesale Banking, Investment Banking, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Trade Services, Transaction Banking, Cash Management and Digital Banking.
Recently, in recognition of the strong underlying fundamentals driving its business, Datapro reaffirmed an “A” rating on the Nova Merchant Bank N10 billion 7-Year Subordinated Unsecured Bond issued under its N50 billion debt issuance programme.
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Global Credit Rating also upgraded NOVA Merchant Bank’s Long Term Issuer Rating from BBB- to BBB with a stable outlook. The reasons given for the upgrade include the Bank’s strong capitalisation, risk position, liquidity and evolving brand.
This achievement follows the recent publication of the bank’s financial results for FY2020 in which it declared a profit after tax of N3.49billion in 2020 compared to N1.65billion in 2019. The bank also achieved a 130percent increase in gross earnings while its cost to income ratio declined from 55percent in 2019 to 44percent in 2020.
NOVA Merchant Bank emerged the winner of the ‘Bond Offering of the Year 2020’ prize at the BusinessDay Bank and other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards. The bank clinched the prize for its extremely successful N10billion seven year subordinated unsecured bond which was oversubscribed by 300 percent.
The offer had opened on June 30, 2020 following relevant approval from the Securities & Exchange Commission(SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), closed on July 8, 2020 with a bond yield guidance of 12 percent to 12.50 percent.
In spite of volatility in markets due to COVID-19 pandemic, the transaction was highly demanded with a diversified order book made up of discerning investors including asset managers, insurance companies, domestic pension funds, non-financial institution corporates, high networth individuals as well as international fund managers.
The lead issuing house, United Capital Plc had described the transaction as unprecedented while the joint issuing houses Stanbic IBTC Capital, UCML Capital Limited, Emerging Africa and Greenwich Trust Limited had jointly stated it was a remarkable deal.
