The federal government is seeking two lead managers and a financial adviser to organize the issuance of $1 billion of Eurobonds this year, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The sale is the first tranche of a $4.5 billion Nigeria Global Medium-Term Notes Issuance Programme that runs through 2018, the department said in a statement published in the U.K’s Financial Times newspaper on Monday. The government wants to appoint two international banks as joint lead managers and a local lender as financial adviser for the whole program, according to the statement. Bids are to be submitted by noon on September 19 in the capital, Abuja.
The move will “enable Nigeria to have the flexibility of quickly taking advantage of favorable market conditions in the international capital market to raise funds if and only when the need arises,” according to the statement. The Eurobond sales this year would be the first since Nigeria tapped the market in July 2013 and an inaugural issue in 2011.
President Muhammadu Buhari approved a record 6.1 trillion naira ($19.3 billion) spending plan this year and the Treasury intends to borrow to plug the budget’s 2.2 trillion naira deficit. The Nigerian government is increasing spending to stimulate Africa’s largest economy after it contracted by 0.4 percent in the first quarter as revenue dwindled amid lower oil prices and a decline in output. The economy could shrink 1.8 percent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Source: Bloomberg