FMDQ OTC Plc listed the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc’s N8bn Series 1, 15-Year 14.9 per cent fixed rate bond under a N140bn medium-term note programme on its over-the-counter platform.
As part of the listing process, the FMDQ hosted the issuer, represented by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer NMRC, Prof. Charles Inyangete, and the sponsor of the bond, represented by the Managing Director, Dunn Loren Merrifield Advisory Partners Limited, Mr. Chinua Azubike.
According to the FMDQ, the listing was another milestone in the development of the Nigerian debt capital market.
At the listing ceremony, the MD/CEO, FMDQ, Mr. Bola Onadele, explained that the issuance of the bond by the NMRC and its listing on the OTC platform was an essential steps towards the development of not just the corporate bond market in Nigeria, but the housing market.
This, he explained, was through the creation of long-term funding for mortgage financing.
He said, “Listing of NMRC bonds on FMDQ will help create liquidity for these instruments, price formation for the issuance of new bonds, price discovery for investors in these securities and foster market transparency.”
According to him, the FMDQ will also provide the necessary secondary market platform for the bonds to thrive and by extension ensuring success of the Nigerian primary and secondary mortgage markets.
Inyangete, on his part, said the successful completion of the bond issuance and the interest generated by the issue among investors showed the confidence they had in the NMRC’s operational model and principles.
He added, “The market has bought into NMRC’s objective of intermediating long-term funds from the capital market to the development of the mortgage industry and ultimately bridging Nigeria’s housing deficit by providing affordable housing finance.
“NMRC is committed to transmitting the full benefit of the pricing efficiency achieved in its funding cost to home borrowers through the participating primary mortgage lenders, thereby driving activities that will deepen the mortgage market.”
According to Azubike, the success of the bond issue has engendered market confidence in the credit standing of the NMRC as a bond issuing entity.
This, he said, would allow the NMRC to connect the Nigerian mortgage market to the capital markets, particularly the pension fund investors which account for 78 per cent of the bond investors, adding that it would unlock the potential for increased mortgage volumes and sustainable housing market supply.
The Head, Business Development Group, FMDQ, Ms. Tumi Sekoni, disclosed that the FMDQ would in partnership with NMRC and other key stakeholders engage in relevant initiatives and campaigns to educate the market on mortgage-related debt instruments in readiness for the housing revolution the Nigerian market was set to witness.
