Flour Mills, Primero boost bond listing on NSE

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has continued to uphold its commitment to maintain operations in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic by supporting companies to raise capital in these challenging times. These efforts are evidence by the successful listing of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Primero BRT Securitization SPV Plc bonds on the Exchange on Thursday, 9 April 2020.

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc listed its N12,499,600.000.00 3-Years 10% Series 3 (Tranche A) Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bond due 2023; and the N7,500,400,000 5-Year 11.10% Series 3 (Tranche B) Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bond due 2025.

Also, Primero BRT listed its N16,500,000,000 Series 1; 17% Fixed Rate Bonds due 2026 under the N100,000,000,000 Medium Term Bond Program.

The Group Managing Director, Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Mr. Peter Gbededo expressed excitement over the listing of the bond on the NSE.

He said, “We are delighted to return to the capital market with such a successful outing, especially with the level of interest shown by investors. The response from the market vindicates our decision to have taken this additional step to diversify our financing options beyond short-term commercial bank debt. Furthermore, we are excited about the role NSE is playing in deepening secondary market liquidity thus aligning our market with international best practices, and we look forward to enjoying the benefits of these efforts in our short and long-term instruments.”

The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, congratulated the management of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc and Primero BRT Securitization SPV Plc and the professional parties to the issue. He went on to reiterate the commitment of The Exchange to support its stakeholders saying, “As an Exchange, we are committed to ensuring that our operations and trading activities continue seamlessly throughout this period.

“We have put in place the requisite measures to guarantee that our staff are able to provide requisite support, our stakeholders are able to conduct business digitally, and that all relevant information continues to flow into the market to spur capital market activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Since the activation of its Business Continuity Plan in response to COVID-19 on Wednesday, 25 March 2020, The Exchange has transitioned to digital operations with its employees working remotely and Dealing Member Firms trading remotely. The Exchange has had no disruptions to its operations since the activation of the slow down efforts by state and federal governments to flatten the COVID19 curve.