The United Africa Company of Nigeria Plc (UAC) has raised N18.7 billion from the country’s investing public through a Commercial Paper issuance in the Nigerian debt market.
Commercial Paper refers to a short-term, unsecured debt obligation that is issued by financial institutions and large corporations as an alternative to costlier methods of funding.
The fund was raised in a series 1 and 2 of the N45 billion Commercial Paper Programme of UAC Nigeria.
The issuance received investment from pension fund administrators, asset managers, insurance companies, and high net-worth individuals, a document filed with the capital market authority, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) revealed.
The commercial paper issuance comprised two tenors – a 90-day Series 1 issuance which is priced at 8.00% yield, and a 181-day Series 2 issuance which is priced at 8.25% yield.
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According to a statement issued by Funke Ijaiya-Oladipo, Finance Director, UAC Group, this reflects the strong credit quality of the Company and investors’ positive sentiment toward UAC’s operations and strategy.
The CP issuance, which was 3.8x subscribed, was part of the intra-group treasury arrangement between UAC and its subsidiaries aimed at meeting short-term working capital requirements.
Ijaiya-Oladipo noted the CP Issuance was well received and attracted significant demand from a wide range of investors including pension fund administrators, asset managers, insurance companies and high net-worth individuals.
Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited acted as Lead Arranger and Dealer to the CP Issuance; First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Capital Markets Limited acted as Joint Dealer to the CP Issuance while Banwo and Ighodalo acted as Solicitors to the transaction.
Commenting on the significance and success of the CP Issuance, the Group Finance Director described the completion of the CP Issuance as a testament to the Company’s strength, the sustainability of its Group’s brands and the trust displayed by the investing community.
While she disclosed that the Commercial Papers will be quoted on the FMDQ Exchange, she said, “It is without doubt that the success of this issuance provides an avenue to optimize our funding cost while continuing to drive our strategic initiatives as an organisation.”
