GTBank announces final tender results

Guaranty Trust Bank plc has announced the expiration and final tender results of the cash tender offer with respect to the U.S.$500,000,000 at 7.50% notes due 2016 for which securities were issued by its own subsidiary – GTB Finance B.V.

With the deadline for the Tender Offer being February 10, 2016, the implication is that the tendering for the securities under the offer has now passed.

An aggregate principal amount of U.S.$ 126,586,000 of the securities that were validly tendered  prior to the expiration  of the deadline and not validly withdrawn were accepted.  Therefore, no securities were tendered through the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Tender Offer Memorandum dated February 4, 2016. The settlement date for the tender offer is February 16, 2016.

The tender offer is consistent with GTBank’s liability management strategy and reflects the bank’s ongoing efforts to enhance the efficiency of its funding and capital structure, as it seeks to reduce its overall funding costs.

Subject to applicable law, the offeror or any of its affiliates may at any time and from time to time, following completion of the offer, purchase the remaining outstanding securities by tender, in the open market, by private agreement or otherwise on such terms and at such prices as the offeror or, if applicable, its affiliates may determine.

Segun Agbaje the bank’s CEO  said,  “We are pleased at the outcome of this exercise. The offer, which is the first of its kind involving a Nigerian corporate in the international financial markets, has enabled us achieve the objective of reducing some of the bank’s borrowing costs, ahead of the maturity of the Eurobond in May of this year.

“The tender result is also a testament to the strength of the bank’s credit in the international capital markets. It is gratifying and humbling at the same time to note this level of investor confidence in the bank”.

The tender offer was made pursuant to the memorandum, which set forth in more detail the terms and conditions of the offer. Capitalised terms used but not otherwise defined in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the Tender Offer Memorandum.

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as the Joint Dealer Managers for the Offer. Lucid Issuer Services Limited acted as Tender Agent and Information Agent, among others.