Nigerian Breweries Plc today established a 100 Billion Commercial Paper (“CP”) Programme with view to launching its inaugural Commercial Paper issue under the programme on or before Thursday 8th October 2015.
The Signing Ceremony to mark the establishment of the Programme was held at the head office of Nigerian Breweries, Iganmu, Lagos, and witnessed by representatives of the transaction advisors (Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and FBN Capital Limited, Banwo & Ighodalo as Legal Counsel, KPMG as Auditors to the Issuer (for the relevant financial years under review), and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC as Issuing Calculation and Paying Agent. Also in attendance were officials of the FMDQ OTC Exchange to witness the event.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, commented: “This transaction underscores our continued commitment to winning with Nigeria and represents the largest ever Commercial Paper programme to be established by a (non-financial institution) corporate issuer following the 2009 guidelines on commercial paper from the Central Bank of Nigeria. In that regard, this effort clearly demonstrates our leadership status in the industry and an innovative approach towards executing our Company’s financing strategy, in an increasingly competitive market environment.”
Commenting also on the significance for Nigerian Breweries of this historic occasion, Mr. Mark Rutten, the Finance Director of Nigerian Breweries said: “This programme is expected to complement our Company’s other sources of working capital, whilst diversifying our funding sources to include non-bank investors that would provide Nigerian Breweries with additional tools to help manage and optimise its overall funding cost.”
Nigerian Breweries Plc has been assigned a top notch investment grade rating of “Aa” by Agusto & Co. Limited. As highlighted by Agusto & Co, the rating assigned is representative of a company that possesses very strong financial condition and very strong capacity to meet its obligations as and when due, which clearly speaks to the corporate credentials and financial pedigree of Nigerian Breweries.
