Financial Market Dealers Quotations (FMDQ) OTC, yesterday witnessed the first bond listing on the platform, with the listing of United Bank for Africa  N30.5 billion bond.

The listed Bond is Series-1 of UBA PLC 7-year 16.45 per cent Fixed Rate Subordinated Unsecured Notes due in 2021.

Speaking at the bond listing ceremony in Lagos, Mr Bola Onadele,  the Managing Director, FMDQ, said that the listing would deepen the nation’s capital market.

Onadele who commended the bank for the feat said that the bond was the first corporate bond to be listed on its platform.

He said that the admission of the bank’s bond followed the recent approval of FMDQ bond listing and quotation rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to him, bonds listed and admitted on FMDQ will be traded by Fixed Income Specialists who would act as market makers to these bonds thus providing trading liquidity to the bond.

“FMDQ provides a platform for the registration, listing, quotation and trading of bonds and other fixed income securities,” said Onadele.

He said that the company had empowered the Nigerian bond market with price discovery, transparency and market integrity through market development initiatives.

Onadele said that listing and quotation on FMDQ provides a host of benefits across the debt market value chain,
positively impacting stakeholders in the Debt Capital Market (DCM).

“FMDQ’s value-add to DCM includes visibility and transparency to the listed/quoted debts, improved secondary market liquidity, benchmark pricing and price formation,” he added.

The managing director said that FMDQ had made the nation’s capital market globally competitive with continuous disclosure of relevant information on fixed income issues listed on its platform.
Also speaking, Phillips Oduoza, UBA Group Managing Director, said that the company was the first indigenous firm to undertake dual listing of corporate bond.

Oduoza said that listing on the platform would avail foreign investors the opportunity to invest in the bond due to appropriate pricing.

He said that the bond had increased the bank’s level capitalisation level and would give the bank the capacity to increase more businesses and sustainability.

Oduoza added that it would translate to higher returns and profitability to shareholders.

“It is the largest fixed income issuance we had in 2014 and we are the first Nigerian company to undertake dual listing of corporate bond,” he said.

He said that FMDQ had become the nation’s foremost debt capital market, stressing that, the bank accessed the market when the financial market was lacking liquidity.

Oduoza said the bank would continue to explore new frontiers to meet growth needs, adding that the bond would be utilised in creating long-term loans to the bank’s customers across Africa.

“We are set to tap funds readily available in the market. There will be a large move from corporates loan to fixed income because it will help them to plan their loan appropriately,” he said.