In what analysts described as a landmark vote of confidence in Nigeria’s alternative securities market, Norrenberger Securities Limited has acquired a 4.35 per cent strategic stake in NASD Plc for N1.31 billion, marking the year’s largest institutional transaction on the over-the-counter (OTC) platform.

The deal, executed at N60 per share, represents a 111.7 per cent premium to NASD’s prevailing market price of about N28.35, underscoring Norrenberger’s bullish outlook on the exchange’s long-term potential.

The shares, totalling 21,761,810 units, were divested by GTI Securities Limited, GTI Capital Limited, and GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited, signalling GTI Group’s full exit from NASD’s shareholding structure.

Market watchers say the acquisition could reshape investor sentiment toward the OTC bourse, which has been seeking deeper liquidity and broader institutional participation. Norrenberger’s entry, they add, positions the firm as a key stakeholder in the evolution of Nigeria’s private market ecosystem.

When NASD Plc listed on its own platform in 2013 at N1.50 per share, it was viewed as a niche financial infrastructure play. Twelve years later, that stock had soared to N29.98 by July 2025, representing a 28.35 per cent compound annual growth rate that would have turned a N100,000 investment into nearly N2 million.

Even amid 2025’s turbulent macroeconomic climate, NASD equity has surged 93.29 per cent year-to-date, rising from N15.51 in January to its current levels, an extraordinary run in a market otherwise battered by inflation and currency pressures.

Operationally, NASD’s half-year 2025 revenue jumped 308 per cent to N657 million, while second-quarter profit hit N129.3 million, a 646 per cent turnaround from prior-year losses. Trading income climbed 264 per cent to N1.07 billion, and for the first time in its history, the company paid a cash dividend of 20 kobo per share.

Under Managing Director/CEO Eguarekhide Longe, NASD has transformed from a quiet OTC venue into a profit-generating engine, even as it navigated shocks like Aradel Holdings’ 2024 migration to the NGX.

For Norrenberger, an integrated financial services powerhouse founded in 2017 and led by Group Managing Director/CEO Tony Edeh, this is more than an equity investment.

It’s a strategic placement at the nerve centre of Nigeria’s private markets. The firm, with operations spanning securities dealing, investment banking, private equity, pensions, and asset management, now sits inside the infrastructure of alternative capital raising.

Market insiders interpret the move through several lenses. Some see it as an infrastructure play, giving Norrenberger proximity to deal flow and real-time market intelligence as NASD pushes into digital securities, tokenisation, and SME listings.

Others view it as valuation arbitrage, a forward-looking bet that NASD’s market capitalisation could climb sharply if two or three major listings land in 2026.

There’s also a geographic dimension: Norrenberger’s Abuja headquarters signals a symbolic break from Lagos’s dominance of Nigerian capital market dealmaking.

GTI’s exit, meanwhile, closes a significant chapter. The three GTI affiliates’ complete divestment, collectively worth N1.31 billion, removes one of NASD’s most visible institutional shareholders.

While GTI firms remain registered participating institutions on the platform, their timing raises eyebrows. Coming as NASD rebounds from its 2024 challenges, this marks one of the largest institutional exits from the exchange operator in years.

Analysts say the transaction resets several narratives at once. A N1.3 billion block trade at a steep premium shatters the perception that NASD is illiquid.

The N60 per share pricing establishes a new valuation benchmark likely to influence secondary market pricing in the months ahead. Governance dynamics may also shift if Norrenberger seeks board representation, potentially ushering in a new era of advocacy for digital securities, regional market expansion, and deeper SME participation.

And as a competing securities group now holds a sizable stake in the exchange operator, observers anticipate both opportunities for collaboration and potential competitive tensions.