Obinna Chima
Defying its critics, the N100 billion seven-year debut Sukuk offer by the Debt Management Office (DMO), which closed last week Friday, has been oversubscribed by 5.87 per cent.
The sukuk, a project-tied investment facility, according to a statement Tuesday by DMO, attracted investors from across a broad spectrum of the public comprising pension funds, banks, fund managers, institutional and retail investors.
DMO added that the total subscription to the sukuk offer was N105.88 billion.
Reacting to the development, the Director General of DMO, Ms. Patience Oniha, said that the acceptance of the offer was an indication of the viability of the instrument as an investment option as well as a demonstration of utmost faith in the economy.
She commended the federal government and in particular the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, for the policy support that led to the success of this initial offer, which industry watchers acknowledged as another window that has been opened to the government to raise funds to fill the nation’s yawning infrastructure gap.
In the run up to the offer, Nigerians developed tremendous enthusiasm, as they embraced the investment instrument advertised nationwide through roadshows by officials of the DMO, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja and Kaduna, the statement said.
The awareness campaign, which drew attention to the projects that the sukuk was aimed at, include the construction and rehabilitation of 25 roads across the six geopolitical zones and aroused in the investors the patriotic fervour that led to the oversubscription.
Investment experts were optimistic that with this issue, a new instrument, the sovereign sukuk, had been introduced to Nigeria’s capital market, and has added to the variety of products available to domestic issuers and investors.
They pointed out that the sukuk, as a novel investment platform, achieved one of its aims, which was to offer new investors an opportunity to participate in Nigeria’s growing capital market.
A look at the investors that subscribed to the sovereign sukuk revealed that another significant objective was achieved through the participation of over a thousand retail investors from across the nation who accounted for over four per cent of the total subscription.
With this positive development, the DMO has been energised to continue its role of meeting the government’s funding needs, as well as introducing new instruments to develop Nigeria’s capital market, the statement added.
DMO also expressed hope that the success of this offer and the proceeds from it would enable the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to commence work on the road projects in earnest.
