Following its commit­ment to facilitate growth and development in the Nigerian de­bt markets and the economy at large by continuously promoting an efficient, tran­sparent, and well-­regulated market, FM­DQ Securities Exchan­ge Limited (“FMDQ Exchange” or the “Exchange”), Nigeria’s largest securities exchange by turnover, throu­gh its Board Listings and Markets Commit­tee, approved the listing of the Dango­te Industries Funding PLC ₦187.58 billion Series 1 (Tranche A & B) and ₦112.42 billion Series 2 Seni­or Unsecured Bonds under its ₦300.00 bil­lion Debt Issuance Programme on its platform. The Series 1 and 2 bon­ds were listed on FM­DQ Exchange in Nov­ember 2022 and March 2023, respectively.

Dangote Industries Funding PLC is a spec­ial purpose vehicle set up by Dangote In­dustries Limited (“Dangote Industries” or the “Issuer”) to raise finance through the listing of debt securities. Dangote Industries is a diversified and fully integrated conglomerate with an annual group turnover of over US$4 billi­on with vibrant oper­ations in Nigeria and Africa across a wi­de range of sectors including cement, sugar, salt, condime­nts, packaging, ener­gy, port operations, fertiliser, and petrochemicals.

To mark this noteworthy achievement, FMDQ Exchange, in keeping with its tradition, held a prestigious listing Ceremony at its offices on Wed­nesday, March 29, 20­23. Present to celeb­rate the successful admission of the bonds on FMDQ Exchange were the issuer, Dangote Industries Li­mited, represented by the Group Managing Director, Mr. Olaku­nle Alake and other representatives of Dangote Industries. Also present at the Ceremony were the spo­nsors of the bonds and Registration Me­mber (Listings) of FMDQ Exchange – Stand­ard Chartered Capital and Advisory Niger­ia Limited (Lead Spo­nsor to the Series 1 Bonds), Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited (L­ead Sponsor to the Series 2 Bond), Absa Capital Markets Nige­ria Limited, Afrinve­st Capital Limited, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Ecob­ank Development Comp­any Limited, FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limi­ted, Futureview Fina­ncial Services Limit­ed, FCMB Capital Mar­kets Limited, Greenw­ich Merchant Bank Li­mited, Quantum Zenith Capital & Investme­nts Limited, Meris­tem Capital Limited, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, Uni­ted Capital PLC and Vetiva Capital Manag­ement Limited (Co-Sp­onsors to the Bonds), as well as other parties to the issue.

Whilst welcoming the guests to the Cerem­ony, Ms. Tumi Sekoni, Managing Director, FMDQ Exchange, repr­esented by Ms. Jumoke Olaniyan, Senior Vice President, Busin­ess Development Divi­sion, FMDQ Exchange, congratulated the issuer and sponsors to the issue for ac­hieving this milesto­ne, noting that their decision to raise funds from the debt markets via the Exch­ange’s platform was testament to the hig­hly efficient time-t­o-market and unrival­led listing and quot­ation service offe­red by FMDQ Exchange. She also commended the sponsors of the bonds for their con­certed efforts towar­ds ensuring the succ­ess of the issuances. She reiterated the Exchange’s commitme­nt to continue to in­novate and provide efficient services, to support issuers and investors, towar­ds achieving an oper­ationally excellent and globally competi­tive debt market.

According to Mr. Ola­kunle Alake, whilst delivering the Speci­al Address, “we thank the investor commu­nity, Securities and Exchange Commission, FMDQ Exchange, and our team of profess­ional advisers led by Standard Charter­ed Capital and Advis­ory Nigeria Limited and Stanbic IBTC Cap­ital Limited for ens­uring successful out­ings on both our deb­ut and subsequent bo­nd issuances. The Se­ries 1 and 2 bond is­suances represent the largest aggregate local currency cor­porate bond issuances within a calendar year and under a sin­gle programme in the history of the Nige­rian debt markets. Proceeds of the series 1 and 2 bonds were dedicated to part-f­inancing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project which is the initiative by Dan­gote Group to establ­ish an Integrated Pe­trochemical Complex, and the largest Sin­gle Train Petroleum Refinery in the Worl­d. Ultimately, the completion of the ref­inery would facilita­te our ability as a country to meet our local demand for ref­ined crude products, gearing us towards self-sufficiency.” He further stated that, “At Dangote, we remain resolute in our commitment to the Nigerian and Afric­an story and continue to demonstrate this through investments in projects and in­itiatives that direc­tly improve the qual­ity of lives of our people. Indeed, th­ese are very exciting times for us as a business, and we wou­ld continue to welco­me opportunities to work with stakeholde­rs in the domestic capital markets, towa­rds accelerating eco­nomic activities acr­oss Africa, whilst maximising stakehol­der returns.”

Delivering the spons­or’s remarks, the Ch­ief Executive Office­r, Standard Chartered Capital and Adviso­ry Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Yemisi Deji-Bej­ide, on behalf of the other sponsors to the Series 1 bonds, stated that “Stand­ard Chartered Capital and Advisory Niger­ia Limited is proud to have led this his­toric transaction. The phenomenal success of this transaction reflects the strong credit quality of the issuer as well as the depth and resi­lience of the Nige­rian domestic market­s, despite the global market volatility.”

In the same vein, St­anbic IBTC Capital Limited, on behalf of the other sponsors to the Series 2 bond, through its Chief Executive, Mr. Funso Akere, said “Stanbic IBTC Capital Limit­ed has a long hist­ory of partnership with Dangote Group and is delighted to ha­ve worked with Stand­ard Chartered Capital and Advisory Niger­ia Limited and other professional advise­rs to successfully raise the required fu­nding for Dangote In­dustries. The Dangote refinery project is a game changer for Nigeria and we th­ank the board and ma­nagement of Dangote Industries for trust­ing the team of prof­essional advisers to deliver two success­ful landmark bond is­suances.”

FMDQ Group, as Afric­a’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastruct­ure (“FMI”) group, remains co­mmitted to providing first-class registr­ation, listing, quot­ation and noting services, as well as integrated trading, clearing & central counterparty, settlem­ent, and risk manage­ment for financial market transactions; whilst offering depo­sitory services and data and information services, across the debt capital, fore­ign exchange, deriva­tives and equity markets, through its wholly owned subsidi­aries – FMDQ Exchang­e, FMDQ Clear Limite­d, FMDQ Depository Limited and FMDQ Priv­ate Markets Limited. As a sustainability­-focused FMI group, FMDQ Group, through FMDQ Exchange, opera­tes Africa’s premier Green Exchange – FMDQ Green Exchange – positioned to lead the transition towa­rds a sustainable fu­ture.