MTN completes N100bn commercial paper issuance

Listed telecoms company, MTN Nigeria, has completed the issuance of its series I and II notes, under its N100 billion commercial paper debt programme.

The company announced the issuance in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the investing public in a corporate filling signed Wednesday by Uto Ukpanah, the Company Secretary.

According to the second most capitalized stock at the NSE, it priced the Series I 180-day CP at an effective yield of 4.90 per cent for N20 billion size and the Series II 270-day CP, sized at N80 billion, cleared at an effective yield of 5.95 per cent.

The statement further stated that the telco initially set out to issue up to N50 billion under the N100 billion CP programme but at the conclusion of the book build, the CP issuance was 400 per cent oversubscribed.

MTN explained that it then opted to issue up to the N100 billion limit of the registered CP programme, with participation from individual and institutional investors, including pension fund administrators, asset managers and corporates.

Ferdi-Moolman CEO MTN Nigeria

Ferdinand Moolman, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, said, “The N100 billion issued is the largest debut commercial paper issuance by a Nigerian corporate.

“It allows us to broaden our sources of funding and combines our established lines of credit with access to capital market funding, which will lower our overall cost of borrowing.”

The company said the proceeds from the CP issuance would be used to support the company’s working capital and general corporate purposes adding that the Series I and II notes would be listed on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.

Meanwhile, Chapel Hill Denham, a leading investment consulting firm in the Nigerian capital market, acted as arranger and dealer on the commercial paper transaction.