BY CHAELES ABUEDE
Dangote Cement, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest cement producer with an installed capacity of 51.6Mta, has said it has completed the raising of N116 billion from the debt market through the issuance of its Series 2 bond.
The bond is now regarded as the largest bond issued by a corporate in the history of the Nigerian capital market.
The company, in a disclosure, said the bond issuance, the second under its N300 billion multi-instrument bond issuance programme, attracted high participation from various institutional investors. The bond is comprised of three tranches with tranche A, a 5-year bond priced at 11.85 percent; tranche B, a 7-year bond with a yield of 12.35 percent, and the third tranche, priced at 13 percent.
“The bond issuance, which is the second issuance under the company’s N300 billion multi-instrument issuance programme, attracted participation from a wide array of institutional investors including pension funds, asset managers, banks, insurance companies and high net worth individuals. The bond issuance comprised three tranches: a 5-year Tranche A issuance priced at 11.85 per cent, a 7-year Tranche B issuance priced at 12.35 per cent, and a 10-year Tranche C issuance priced at 13 per cent,” Dangote Cement, said in a statement.
Dangote Cement said the proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to finance its expansion projects, short-term debt refinancing and working capital requirements.
Michel Puchercos, group managing director, Dangote Cement, commenting on the debt issuance, said: “Dangote Cement is delighted to have successfully undertaken a second issuance under our Multi-Instrument Issuance Programme which was launched last year, and even more delighted to have concluded the most significant corporate bond issuance in the history of the Nigerian Debt Capital Markets. This landmark transaction would fund our expansion projects and further support the implementation of our export strategy.”
