Nigeria emerges first in Africa to access ICM, raises $1.25bn Eurobonds

Nigeria has officially raised 1.25 Billion dollars through the issuance of a seven-year Eurobonds in the International Capital Market (ICM).

The Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha made this known in a statement on Thursday.

Oniha said that with this feat, Nigeria has become the first African country to access the ICM in 2022.

According to her, the country’s ability to access the Eurobonds at this time was a confirmation of her established presence with the ICM and engagement with investors on a continuous basis.

She said that the proceeds of the bonds would be used to finance the budget and bridge infrastructural deficits.

“The offer was launched at an initial price thoughts of 8.75 per cent per annum and on the back of strong investor demand, Nigeria was able to reverse the price guidance to 8.5 per cent per annum.

“The order book continued to grow, reaching a peak of four billion dollars,” she said.

She said that the order book included many quality investors in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

“With this strong investor interest the price was tightened at 8.37 per cent per annum, the order book still remained high at 3.67 billion dollars and still retained quality investors,” she said.

She said that Nigerian investors also participated in the offer with a total subscription of 60 million dollars.

She added that the Eurobonds would also strengthen economic recovery and contribute directly and in full to the level of Nigeria’s External Reserves.

Our correspondent reports that the DMO had earlier on Thursday revealed that Nigeria’s total debt stock as at December 2021 was N39.55 trillion.