Business
Dangote Cement excites investors with N100bn bond
BY EMEKA EJERE
Leading cement manufacturer in Africa, Dangote Cement Plc., wants to raise up to N100 billion in fresh funds from the bond market, under its NGN300 billion Debt Issuance Programme.
The investor presentation document prepared by the company, with the theme”Building Prosperity in Africa,” disclosed that the funds from the debut offering in the bond markets are to be utilised to refinance existing short-term debt previously applied towards cement expansion projects, working capital and general corporate purposes.
The bond, a medium term debt paper, the cement manufacturing giant is issuing for the first time signifies confidence in business growth and in the Nigerian economy long term growth.
The bond has been described by the company’s management as a good offer for discerning institutional investors and high networth individuals as it comes from largest company by market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Dangote Cement is also the largest cement manufacturer in Sub-Saharan Africa with an installed capacity of 45.6Mta across its’ operations in 10 African countries, operating a fully integrated “quarry-to-customer” business in 7 of its operations with activities covering manufacturing, sales and distribution of cement.
A premium board-listed on the NSE, the company has a strong corporate governance framework supported by five Independent Directors while its shareholding base is diversified.
A peep into its result sheets, shows that the company posted an excellent financial performance in 2019 with EBITDA margins of 44.3 per cent and was rated ‘Strong financial profile, including low leverage and significant operational scale.’ (GCR AA+(Ng) (Jan 20) Moody’s Aa2.ng (Mar 20)
With a NGN150 billion Commercial Paper programme in 2018, and an aggregate amount of NGN300 billion in Commercial Paper since the programme was established, Dangote Cement also has a strong track record in the debt capital market.
It also has a track record in Nigeria’s Debt Capital Markets. in 2018 and 2019, it raised an aggregate Issuance of N100bn under the Commercial Paper Programme and an aggregate Issuance of N200bn under the Commercial Paper Programme respectively with both oversubscribed.
