‘Visionscape N4.85bn 15.75% Environmental Note Not Listed On NGSE’

In what may mean that subscribers are under their own and reminiscent of the days of capital raising through private placement in the Nigerian capital market, management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Monday said the Lagos State Government’s N4.85 Billion, 15.75% Series 1, Tranche B, Environmental Note, which suffered default in repayment of the coupon and principal on the Municipal Note due on Tuesday, 5 March 2019, is not listed on its platform for trading.
This first payment for the due incomes to investors in the Fixed Interest Rate Medium Term Note which ought to be in nine equal payments spanning four and half years was reportedly not made.
This is coming after the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), on Friday, in a own statement on its website, argued that “being an issuance by a private company, it was not offered to the public, but to qualified investors by private placement.”
The SEC’s statement was despite the fact that although MWMCL, a company promoted by Visionscape Sanitations Solutions Limited, issued the bond, it is backed by an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) of the Lagos State Government. It was to secure the financing structure by charging it on the State’s Internally Generated Revenue account/ Environmental Trust Fund.
The Exchange said it reacted to the story because it “has the likelihood of dampening investors’ confidence in the Nigerian capital market.”
According to the NSE, “the Municipality Note was not listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange. As part of its regulatory oversight to safeguard investors in the Nigerian capital market, The Exchange takes steps to satisfy itself that the financial and other advisers have done due diligence on all financial instruments listed on The Exchange in order to ensure that the obligations attached to those instruments are met as and when due.
“As part of the requirements for the issuance and the listing of similar debt instruments, The Exchange requires that a Guarantee on the revenue of the State Government is issued, in addition to an approval of the State House of Assembly to back the Notes,” it added.
While assuring of its commitment a fair, efficient and transparent market that guarantees the protection of investors’ rights, the NSE said “the established requirements are necessary to ensure that the risk of default on such instruments when listed on The Exchange are reduced to the barest minimum.”

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