The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, hosted a webinar with the theme SPACs: An Alternative Route to Public Markets, where it highlighted the role played by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) in catalyzing economic growth through public markets Nigeria and Africa.
Addressing participants at the webinar, the Divisional Head, Listings Business, NGX, Olumide Bolumole noted that “in recent times, SPACs have experienced a steady rise in popularity across global markets due to the increased need for investors to explore opportunities in the capital market for diversifying investments and maximizing returns.”
Continuing, he said the NGX is working “towards becoming the preferred African Exchange hub, propelling innovation in a range of areas, (and) have identified SPACs as a timely solution to proffer an alternative route to increasing the number of listings whilst maximizing and protecting shareholders’ value. To that end, we are committed to consistent engagement with stakeholders to further deepen knowledge on SPACs for qualified investors and sponsors.”
Speaking earlier, the Executive Commissioner Operations, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dayo Obisan, represented by Head, Securities and Investment Services, SEC, Alhassan Suleiman Sidi, in a goodwill message, commended the NGX for the webinar “to highlight the opportunities available to the market to access financing through SPACs at a time when we need to deepen our markets.
“We will all agree that the collaborative efforts of stakeholders is more critical than ever if we will provide an enabling framework that will not only spur the development of SPACs, but will also aid in growing and deepening the market whilst ensuring that investors are properly protected,” he said.
The event featured two panel sessions, the first of which focused on “Understanding SPACs: Lifecycle of a SPAC from Inception through Merger Consummation and as a Newly Public Operating Company” featuring Partner & Co-Founder, Verod Capital, Eric Idiahi; and Chief Executive of Orango Investment Corporation, Eric V Guichard; while the CEO, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Funso Akere, served as moderator. The second session, which expounded on, “Legal and Regulatory Considerations for SPAC Merger Compliance,” was moderated by Mrs. Yewande Senbore, Partner, Olaniwun Ajayi LP, featured the CEO, PenOp, Oguche Agudah; Business Development Manager, LSEG, Suresh Akhil; and Head, Listings Analysis, Listings Regulation, NGX RegCo, Ms. Elizabeth Ekpo.
Statement by the NGX expressed its continued commitment to the development of innovative capital market solutions to nurture and encourage new listings while leveraging technology to optimize our processes, improve time to market, create alternate routes to market, and further deepen liquidity within the Nigerian Capital Markets.
“Stakeholders can, therefore, look forward to other engagements such as this to spur activity in the market,” the statement added.
