Block by block and over two decades, Chapel Hill Denham has been building what is now Nigeria’s pre-eminent investment management and securities and securities trading firm.
Chapel Hill Denham featured in the news recently when it was mentioned in connection with preparations for Nigeria’s Eurobond issuance, and BusinessDay search at the Corporate Affairs Commission showed that Finance Minister Wale Edun fully divested his about 20 percent equity in the firm when he resigned as chairman in 2021.
Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited was founded in April 2005, by Bolaji Balogun, as an issuing house and financial advisory firm registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In March 2008, Chapel Hill entered into a business combination with Denham Management Limited, an asset manager and broker/dealer firm founded by Edun in 1994, to form Chapel Hill Denham. Edun served as chairman from 2008, retiring in 2021 and he is no longer a shareholder of the firm.
For nearly two decades, Chapel Hill has established an unequalled track record of delivering results as Nigeria’s pre-eminent investment firm with around 400 successfully completed transactions with a value in excess of N51.2 trillion.
The firm is widely acknowledged as number one in debt capital markets, equity capital markets, financial advisory and mergers and acquisitions. Chapel Hill has been recognised by both local and international institutions including the NGX, FMDQ, Association of Issuing Houses, BusinessDay, EMEA Global Finance and Islamic Finance News. Over the last 10 years, the firm has been an eight-time winner of the ‘Best Investment Bank in Nigeria’ and four-time winner of ‘Africa’s Best Bank for Advisory’ at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence, the most coveted global accolade for global banks and investment banks.
The firm said it has “a long history of advising founders, corporates, multinationals, supra-national, financial institutions, the Federal Government of Nigeria (“FGN”), government agencies and various states on significant transactions in Nigeria’s financial markets.”
Chapel Hill advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) on the restoration of stability in the financial sector during the banking crisis from 2009 to 2012. It also advised the CBN and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (“NDIC”) on the work that led to the creation of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and helped to raise N5.6 trillion capital for AMCON and advised the CBN on the redemption of 34% of AMCON debts, under then Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
During the last banking crisis, Chapel Hill also advised on five of the six M & A transactions completed. Under the banking consolidation supervised by Charles Soludo, the firm advised on six of the 13 mergers and acquisition deals completed.
Chapel Hill has also been adviser to the federal government on its Green bond debut and follow on issuances and in 2021, it advised the government on the $5.25Bn Eurobond issuance and it became the first Nigerian firm to act as Joint Lead Manager on a FGN Eurobond issuance and sold a significant portion of the book and Chapel Hill has also acted as sponsor of the Debt Management Office’s N4.8 Trillion listing of FGN Bonds in FMDQ.
