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Nigerian bank in historic listing on London Exchange
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HISTORY WAS made on the London Stock Exchange as Guaranty Trust Bank Plc's $750 million Global Depository Receipts (GDR), said to be oversubscribed by 15 per cent got listed on the exchange. Luxuriating from the tremendous success of its oversubscribed $350 million Regulation S. Eurobond, issued without the guarantee of either the Federal Government or any international financial institution last January, Guaranty Trust had recently announced its intention to list an offering of $750 million Global Depositary GDRs on the LSE.
The listing is the first of its kind to be undertaken by any Nigerian bank on this scale. A third of the offer, amounting to $250 million, was offered to Nigerian investors while the balance of $500 million was available to foreign institutional and individual investors. The GDR is a negotiable equity security held and traded in international capital markets. It gives issuers exposure to the global market outside their own home market.
The Nigerian tranche of the GDR offering is a unique vehicle aimed at providing Nigerian investors with the opportunity of purchasing a dollar-based international investment. Dividends on GDR holdings will be made in US dollars. On hand to witness the historic occasion were the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, her counterpart at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Musa Al-Faki, a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Ignatius Imala, and officials of Guaranty Trust Bank led by its Managing Director, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun.
Guaranty Trust Bank's success in the international capital markets in the last six months is unprecedented in the history of the Nigerian banking sector. This is the first time since the early 1990s that any Nigerian institution has been this involved in the international capital markets and these achievements are expected to have a positive impact on Guaranty Trust Bank's funding/lending capacity.
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