The Chief Financial Officer, Nova Merchant Bank, Ifeanyi Chukwuonye, has disclosed that the N10 billion seven-year subordinated unsecured bond issuance by the bank was in line with the corporate strategy of the bank to raise long term funds.
The bank’s operations were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and would continue to tap into identified opportunities. Chukwuonye said the company anticipated the impressive market reactions to its bond issuance, and it was delighting to know the bond was oversubscribed by over 300 per cent.
“Obviously, we will be going back to the market in no-distant future. The proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to create a long-term loans, and increase earning capacity of the bank’s assets,” he said.
According to him, the performance of the bank in the last three years was great, with impressive and profitable operations, adding that the bank has been able to run efficiently, with a bright future ahead for the merchant lender.
“The longterm goal of Nova Merchant Bank is to build a sustainable and noble merchant bank that will be the price of our investors. The bond is one of the things in stock to achieve long and short term goals in the bank,” he added.
The bank explained that in spite of volatility in markets due to COVID-19 pandemic, the transaction was highly demanded with a diversified order book made up of discerning investors including asset managers, insurance companies, domestic pension funds, non-financial institution corporates, high net-worth individuals as well as international fund managers.
The lead issuing house, United Capital Plc, described the transaction as unprecedented while the joint issuing houses Stanbic IBTC Capital, UCML Capital Limited, Emerging Africa and Greenwich Trust Limited jointly stated it was a remarkable deal.
The Chairman, NOVA Merchant Bank, Phillips Oduoza expressed excitement over the success of the company’s debut issue as it places the Bank on a firm footing to achieve its short-term and long-term goals.
He said, “The oversubscription of this bond offer is yet another significant milestone in the history of the Bank and represents a vote of confidence by the investment community in the resilience of our business model. We will continue to march forward with confidence in the realisation of our strategic objectives.”
Oduoza added that the bank is well positioned to fulfill its promise to focus on providing long-term funding which is critical to the economic development of the country.
