Dangote Industries Successfully Completes N187bn Bond Issuance

Goddy Egene

Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), one of the leading, diversified and fully integrated conglomerates in Nigeria and Africa, yesterday announced the successful completion of its N187.6 billion Series 1 Bond Issuance.

The debt instrument which was the largest corporate bond ever issued in the history of the Nigerian capital market, represented the first issuance by DIL at Group level.

It comprised a 7-year Tranche-A bond issued at 12.75 per cent and a 10-year Tranche-B bond issued at 13.5 per cent, under the newly established N300 billion Debt Issuance Programme.

Commenting on the significance of the transaction, the Group Managing Director of DIL, Mr. Olakunle Alake said: “DIL is delighted to have successfully conducted its debut issuance under our newly established Debt Issuance Programme.

“We are very pleased to have set this remarkable milestone, showcasing the depth and liquidity of the Nigeria debt capital market (DCM). The success of this transaction further demonstrates investor confidence in our credit story and the appreciation of the work done by the Group across several key sectors that are crucial to the development of the continent.

“The proceeds from this landmark transaction will be used to part-finance the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project, which is the initiative by the Group to establish the largest refinery in Africa, thus positioning Nigeria as a net exporter of refined crude. We want to specially thank the investor community for their support on this transaction, as well as our various advisors and stakeholders.”

Also commenting, the Executive Director, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Nigeria & West Africa, Standard Chartered Capital & Advisory Nigeria Limited, which acted as the Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner on Transaction, Mr. Olukorede Adenowo, said: “On behalf of the Issuing Houses, we are proud to have led this historic transaction which reflects the strong credit quality of the issuer as well as the resilience of the Nigerian domestic debt capital markets, despite the current global market volatility.

“We thank the Board and Management of the Dangote Group for continuously striving to develop the domestic debt capital markets and setting records through its various issuances both at the subsidiary and Group levels.

“We also thank the Securities & Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ) for their unwavering support throughout this entire process.”

The bond issuance was said to have been well received by the market and recorded participation from a wide range of investors including domestic pension funds, asset managers, insurance companies and high net-worth investors.

DIL plans to utilise the net proceeds from the Series 1 bond issuance to part-finance the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project, an Integrated Petrochemical Complex, and the largest Single Train Petroleum Refinery in the World.

Apart from Standard Chartered, Meristem Capital, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Vetiva Capital, Absa Capital Markets, Afrinvest Capital, Coronation Merchant Bank, Ecobank Development Company, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, FCMB Capital Markets, Greenwich Merchant Bank, Quantum Zenith Capital, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria and United Capital acted as Joint Issuing Houses.

DIL is a diversified and fully integrated conglomerate with operations in Nigeria and Africa across a wide range of industries, including cement, sugar, salt, condiments, packaging, energy, fertiliser and petrochemicals.

Its core business focus is to provide local, value-added products and services that meet the “basic needs” of the African populace through the construction and operation of large-scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa.

DIL is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, reduce capital flight from Africa and increase local value additions.

The Group has 11 distinct business lines, with the cement, sugar and salt business currently contributing majority of the group earnings. These subsidiaries are industry leading players with strong brand values, underpinned by long operational track record, diverse customer base, ongoing investments in capacity expansion and control over their respective value chains.

DIL also has two project companies, Dangote Oil Refinery Company Limited (DORC) and Dangote Fertiliser Limited (“DFL”), located at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos State, who (together with DIL) will serve as co-obligors on the Offer. DORC is a 650,000 b/pd integrated crude oil refinery and petrochemical plant, which is expected to be Africa’s largest oil refinery, while DFL is expected to be Africa’s largest granulated urea fertiliser manufacturing facility, with a production capacity of up to 2.8 Mtpa. DIL is currently domestically rated AA+ by GCR and AA (ngr) by Fitch Ratings.