Court authorises change of ownership scheme for NSE

. As Exchange announces the listing of FBNQuest N5b bond

The Federal High Court, Lagos, has granted an order authorising the scheme of arrangement for the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) demutualisation (change of ownership) exercise.

The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar N. Onyema, said the NSE demutualisation process is moving in line with the expected sequence of events, following the conclusion of its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), and Court Ordered Meeting (COM), in March.

“Understandably, in current circumstances, some of the legal and regulatory steps required have taken a little longer than originally expected, but today, we have received court sanction for the results of the EGM, in particular the scheme of arrangement.

“We are looking to secure the reregistration of the Exchange as well as the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within the coming months.”

Members of the NSE had approved the demutualisation scheme of the Exchange at an EGM in March 2017.

This was followed by the signing of the demutualisation of the NSE Bill into law in August 2018.

In December 2019, the SEC, in a No Objection letter, gave its consent to the NSE to hold the COM and EGM to facilitate its conversion from a not-for-profit entity limited by guarantee to a profit-making, public limited liability company owned by shareholders.

Meanwhile, the Exchange also announced the successful listing of FBNQuest Merchant Bank’s N5billion three-year 10.50 per cent bond on the NSE, which was commemorated with a digital closing gong ceremony on Friday.
Commenting on the listing, Onyema said: “We welcome FBNQuest Merchant Bank’s debut listing of its N5billion Series 1 bond on the Exchange, as we continue to support the bank in meeting its capital raising needs and business objectives.

“We also commend all the parties to the transaction. At the NSE, we are committed to giving issuers and investors a platform to access right-sized capital even in the toughest of times as well as providing opportunities for secondary market trading activities across multiple asset classes – equities, bonds, ETFs.

Today, FBNQuest Merchant Bank is a beneficiary of this and we are pleased to welcome them.”

Speaking on the transaction, Managing Director/CEO, Kayode Akinkugbe, stated, “We are pleased to announce the listing of the FBNQuest MB Funding SPV PLC bond on the NSE.

“This is the debut bond issued by the organisation, and the success recorded attests to the degree of confidence investors have in the business.

“As a full-service investment bank and asset manager, we advised on the bond issuance and structure, and also leveraged our extensive distribution capability to ensure the success of the transaction.”