Daily Watch – MTN to list within 3 months, Witness in Shell-Eni trial withdraws accusations
8th March 2019
Five tranches of the FG’s Eurobond were listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange ysterday. The five tranches include: the 7.143%, 12-Year, $1.25billion FGN Eurobond, the 7.696%, 20-Year, $1.25billion FGN Eurobond, the 7.625%, 7-Year, $1.118billion FGN Eurobond, the 8.747%, 12-Year, $1billion FGN Eurobond and the 9.248%, 30-Year, $750million Eurobond. The bonds were listed under the the Global Medium Term Note programme. The bond-listing is in line with the FG’s drive to re-balance Nigeria’s debt portfolio. The move follows earlier efforts by the DMO, specifically the issuance of five Eurobonds in 2018 – a dual tranche that was issued in February, and a triple tranche that was issued in November 2018. According to the NSE, the listing of the bonds will encourage private sector participation in the Nigerian capital markets, even as domestic investors stand to gain increased access to instruments in the secondary markets.
MTN Nigeria recorded ₦453.1 billion EBITDA in 2018, representing 30.8 percent profit growth, the firm disclosed in its annual report released on Thursday. The report showed a service revenue increase by 17.2 per cent, data revenue increase by 39.3 percent, digital revenue decrease by 58.1 percent and Fintech revenue increase by 32.7 percent. It also showed an EBITDA margin increase by 4.5 percent to a total 43.6 percent (excl CBN payment). The growth, according to MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Ferdi Moolman, was built on sustained focus on customer centric delivery – ensuring that customers get much more value for their money. The telecommunication giant has also said it will lit its Nigerian unit on the NSE in the first half of 2019 without raising new money from investors immediately. It also said it would simplify its capital structure prior to the listing as its subsidiary in the country grew its subscriber base by 6 million to 58 million users in 2018.
An ongoing corruption trial against Royal Dutch Shell in Italy over the $1.3 billion acquisition of a Nigerian offshore oilfield hit a setback after a retired Swiss oil executive, Granier-Deferre, who previously said he had knowledge of the illicit dealings involving Shell and Eni SpA reversed his statements at the trial in Milan. After being cross-examined by prosecutors, the witness said the previous statements were made under “pressure” as he has no evidence the oil companies participated in illegal payments. He also stated that he has never had relations with people from Eni in his entire career. Granier-Deferre who in 2016, made statements to Swiss investigators suggesting Shell and Eni executives were part of a network of bribes and kickbacks, and drew a flow chart in 2010 to show how the arrangements were structured, was convicted of money laundering in a French court in 2007 along with former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete, who is a defendant in a criminal trial which is ongoing in a Milan court, where prosecutors allege that he and others personally benefited from a $1.3 billion 2011 oil license transaction with Shell and Eni. Etete has, however, denied wrongdoing in the case. The Milan prosecutors said Shell and Eni paid almost $1.1 billion into an escrow account for the Nigerian government, from which about $800 million was later transferred to Malabu to be distributed as payoffs. Both firms have also argued the transaction was appropriate and legal.
CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, says that the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Microfinance Bank will start offering loans to small businesses at a single digit interest rate of five percent. He said that the new microfinance bank, which has ₦5 billion worth of capital base, is expected to help the regulator actualise its 80 percent financial inclusion target by 2020 and empower small businesses, with target of 774 branches across the LGAs in the country. Five branches have already been established, and Emefiele said that fifty new branches are planned for the next phase in Ibadan, Bauchi, Kaduna, Enugu, Lokoja, and Port Harcourt. The loan scheme would be financed with money from the Agribuisness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment fund. The repayment period for every loan is five years with a two year moratorium.