By Seun Ibiyemi
The Bank of Industry Limited (BOI) has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support following the oversubscription of its N250 billion Series 1 Fixed Rate Bond within five working days.
The bond was issued through BOI Financing SPV Plc under the bank’s $1 billion Multi-Currency Instruments Programme.
BOI Chief Executive Officer, Olasupo Olusi, said the strong investor response demonstrated confidence in the bank and the ability of Nigeria’s domestic capital market to mobilise long-term funding for productive investment.
“The strength of the investor response is a vote of confidence not only in BOI, but also in the capacity of Nigeria’s domestic capital market to mobilise long-term capital for productive investment,” Olusi said.
He attributed the strong demand partly to incentives approved by President Tinubu to encourage investors, saying the presidential support provided leverage and sent a positive signal to the market.
“As a Development Finance Institution, we could not have received the strong investor demand for the bond in five working days without the support of President Tinubu, who gave his executive approval for various incentives to encourage investors,” he said.
Olusi said the ultimate objective of the transaction was to convert investor confidence into increased financing for Nigerian businesses, with the potential to drive industrial expansion, job creation, domestic value chains and economic diversification.
He disclosed that the N100 billion fund approved for BOI by the President would be used to blend the bond’s pricing and cushion the impact of high interest rates on manufacturers and other customers of the development finance institution.
According to him, the measure would enable BOI to provide more affordable long-term financing to businesses in productive sectors.
The bank said the bond represents a significant expansion of its funding architecture, complementing its established presence in international capital markets with increased mobilisation of long-term domestic capital from institutional investors.
BOI said the transaction also demonstrated the growing capacity of Nigeria’s domestic capital market to channel long-term institutional savings into productive areas of the economy.
The bank and its transaction advisers, however, said final subscription and allotment figures would not be disclosed at this stage because the final allotment remains subject to approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
They added that the transaction was still progressing towards completion.
BOI said the immediate significance of the transaction lay in the strength and quality of investor demand, the pricing achieved and the breadth of the investor base.
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According to the bank, these factors indicate sustained institutional appetite for high-quality, long-term domestic assets and reinforce the capacity of the Nigerian capital market to mobilise development-oriented funding at scale.
Proceeds from the bond issuance will increase BOI’s capacity to provide long-term financing to eligible enterprises across priority sectors.
The funding is expected to support investments in productive capacity, local value addition, employment generation and economic diversification.
The successful transaction marks another milestone in the development of Nigeria’s domestic market for long-term development capital and further strengthens BOI’s position as a credible and repeat issuer in the capital market.
