A total of 111 African companies, including Nigeria’s Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, with total market capitalization of over US$200 billion, have raised over $26 billion on the London Stock Exchange in the last 10 years.
A statement by Mohan Bhuyan, Communications Consultant – India, Middle East & Africa of the LSE Group said Seplat was the first Nigerian company to simultaneously dual list equity shares in London and Nigeria in April 2014
This is besides the sovereign bonds, the latest of which is Nigeria’s 15-year $1 billion Eurobond, the longest ever maturity for an international Nigerian issuance since 2013, with a coupon of 7.875% that started trading on the London Stock Exchange Thursday, February 16, 2017.
The bond is part of efforts to help the President Muhammadu Buhari administration finance Nigeria’s long term infrastructure projects.
Bhuyan added that the listing builds on the recent pipeline of several high profile sovereign, supranational, municipal and private company bond issuances on London Stock Exchange. In January 2017, Israel listed its largest ever Eurobond offering of €2.25 billion in London.
The statement quoted Ibukun Adebayo, International Markets Unit – Head of Middle East, Africa and South Asia, London Stock Exchange as saying that “Nigeria’s choice of (LSE) for its first international bond offering since 2013 underlines London Stock Exchange’s position as a leading global venue for debt fund raising and London’s enduring status as a market open to the world.
“The success of Nigeria’s bond listing is a strong statement of international investor interest in building exposure to Nigeria’s economy. It reinforces London Stock Exchange’s status as a strong partner to Nigeria and the City’s ability to provide a deep additional channel of finance for the development of Nigerian infrastructure and the growth of the economy.”