Nigeria’s largest telecommunications firm, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has issued a N127 billion Series 1 & 2 Commercial Paper (CP) under its registered N150 billion programme.

The issuance consisted of two tenors – a 184-day series issuance priced at a 7.50% yield and a 254-day Series 2 issuance priced at an 8.50% yield.

The telco’s Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, in a notification to the Nigeria Stock Exchange, on Monday, stated that the issuance is in line with the company’s strategy to diversify its financing options with the proceeds being deployed towards working capital and general corporate purposes.

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Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited acted as Lead Arranger and Dealer, while Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited, FSDH Capital Limited, Standard Chartered Capital & Advisory Nigeria Limited and UCML Capital Limited acted as joint dealers.

Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria Communication, Mr. Karl Toriola, noted that the N127 billion CP issuance would go into the record books as the largest CP issuance in Nigeria.

According to him, “The success of our CP issuance is a clear demonstration of the strength and acceptance of the MTN brand, and the trust placed by the investor community in MTN Nigeria’s our company’s leadership, strong financial performance and corporate strategy.

“Having recently emerged as one of two winners for the 5G spectrum recently auctioned by the Nigerian Communications Commission and also having recently just been granted final approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Momo Payment Service Bank Limited to commence operations license, this landmark issuance represents yet another step towards our cementing MTN Nigeria’s leadership in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector.

“We thank first and foremost our customers and the investor community for their continued support and confidence in the MTN brand and all it stands for.”

Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Mr. Funso Akere, said the operators and MTN management worked four weeks to work out the CP issuance.

Akere described the issuance as a landmark achievement in the debt capital market issuance programme.

The Star