Lafarge Africa Raises N60 billion from Bond Issuance

Lafarge Africa Plc on Thursday announced the conclusion of its Series I and II N60 billion Bond Issuance. It three year 14.75 per cent Bond due 2019 ( Series 1 Bond) and N33.614 billion five year 14.75 per cent bond due 2021 (Series 11 Bond).

The proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to part-refinance the debt of its wholly-owned subsidiary, United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited.

The dual-series issuance, the first of its kind and largest ever bond issuance by a corporate in Nigeria’s debt capital markets, was concluded through book building with the order book oversubscribed.

A signing ceremony in respect of the Series I and Series II Bonds was held on June 15, 2016, following the Securities & Exchange Commission’s approval. The bonds will be listed on FMDQ-OTC. Chapel Hill Denham acted as Lead Financial Adviser, Lead Issuing House and Lead Book Runner on the transaction. Citibank Nigeria acted as Joint Lead Financial Adviser and Book Runner with Standard Chartered and Stanbic IBTC as Joint Issuing Houses and Book Runners.

Commenting at the signing ceremony, Chairman, Lafarge Africa, Chairman, Mr. Bolaji Balogun said: “This largest ever bond issuance by a corporate in Nigeria’s capital markets, affirms Lafarge Africa’s reputation as a prime issuer. We are grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from domestic institutional investors, especially the Nigerian pension funds. We also wish to thank the SEC for its support on the completion of the transaction.”

Speaking on the conclusion of the bond, Group Managing Director/CEO, Lafarge Africa, Mr. Michel Puchercos said: “The proceeds of this issue will allow Lafarge Africa Plc part-refinance the debt of its now wholly-owned subsidiary, Unicem. These proceeds will deliver savings in financing costs to Unicem and Lafarge Africa. Unicem is currently undergoing a 2.5mtpa capacity expansion which will be completed by the end of 2016.”

Meanwhile, renewed interest in Nigerian equities was sustained yesterday as investors continued to react positively announcement of the modalities for the operation of the new flexible foreign exchange market.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index appreciated 2.1 per cent to close at 28,489.87. Similarly, the market capitalisation gained N205.4 billion to be at N9.8 trillion.

For the second consecutive day, all sectoral indices trended northwards led by the NSE Banking Index, which gained 3.1 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 2.8 per cent, just as the NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 2.2 per cent.

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