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Chinwendu Obienyi
Access Bank Plc on Monday listed the N15 billion fully certified Green Bond on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The dual listing followed the formal approval of the bond by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bond is the first of its kind to be issued by an African corporate and represents a major milestone in the development of the local green finance market.
The bond was priced at a coupon of 15.5 per cent, drew participation from a wide range of asset managers and pension fund administrators.
Speaking at the listing in Lagos, Ms Tumi Sekoni, Associate Executive Director, Capital Markets, FMDQ, congratulated the issuer for the successful issuance of the pioneer Climate Bond Certified Green Bond in the Nigerian Debt Capital Market (DCM).
Sekoni said that the green bond would help address climate and environmental challenges in a sustainable manner to deliver prosperity for Nigerians.
She said that the bond would further deepen the domestic DCM by increasing the range of investible debt securities in the markets, invariably contributing to Nigeria’s development.
She further reiterated FMDQ’s commitment to continue to create awareness and drive education for green financing, thereby facilitating the development of the green bond market in Nigeria.
Sekoni said that the issuance was the first corporate bond to benefit from the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme launched in June 2018, by FMDQ, Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), and the Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa).
She noted that that FMDQ, CBI and FSD Africa launched the initiative to provide training/capacity development for regulators, issuers, investors and intermediaries, amongst others, as part of efforts to introduce green bonds as an investible instrument in the Nigerian DCM that could be tapped to close the huge infrastructure gap.
Mr Herbert Wigwe, Access Bank Group Managing Director, said that the issuance was fully subscribed by way of book building.
Wigwe said that the listing of the bond closely followed the completion of the bank’s merger with Diamond Bank and the launch of its new brand identity that fuses the bank and Diamond Bank’s visual identities symbolising their shared philosophy.
