The Management team of Interswitch will be visiting the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, January 31, 2020 to list N30 billion Bond on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. They will be honoured with a closing gong ceremony.
Following the registration of a N30 billion debt issuance programme with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), Interswitch Limited, a leading technology-driven company focused on the digitisation of payments in Nigeria and other African countries, last year (October 2019) successfully concluded a N23 billion Series 1 Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Callable Bonds issue via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Interswitch Africa One Plc (the Issuer).
The Series 1 Issue priced at 15percent was 2.6x subscribed. The 7-year Bonds, embedding a call option that can only be exercised from the second year, are payable in full at maturity. Investor participation was restricted to qualified institutional investors as defined by the SEC in Nigeria, with a proposed Bonds allocation of 64percent to pension fund managers, 7percent to asset managers and 22percent to commercial banks pending SEC approval. The strong level of over subscription demonstrated investor confidence in the Interswitch brand, business model and long-term strategy, supported by strong domestic ratings from both Agusto & Co. Limited (Agusto) and Moody’s Investor Service (Moody’s).
The Issuer was assigned “Aa3” national scale programme rating (stable) by Moody’s and “Aa” (stable) national scale rating by Agusto, on the back of positive secular industry shifts, a strong market position and a good liquidity profile. The Sponsor was also assigned “Aa” (stable) rating by Agusto.
FBNQuest Merchant Bank and Stanbic IBTC Capital acted as Lead Financial Advisors/Issuing Houses and ABSA Capital Markets Nigeria, FCMB Capital Markets, Quantum Zenith Capital & Investments and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, as Joint Issuing Houses.
