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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016, • T H I S D AY
Group Business Editor Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Email chika.amanzenwachukwu@thisdaylive.com 08057161321, 08033294157
BUSINESSWORLD NIBOR OVERNIGHT 1-MONTH
R A T E S
A S
NIBOR
20.50% 17.6724%
3-MONTH 6-MONTH
19.1728% 21.6787%
A T
NITTY 1-MONTH 2-MONTH 3-MONTH
A U G U S T 113.24% 15.3016% 16.4276%
6-MONTH 9-MONTH 12-MONTH
1 2 ,
2 0 1 6
19.5136% 20.8107% 24.6703%
EXCHANGE RATE N318.91//1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY
Quick Takes Kedari Capital Gets New CEO, ED
Kedari Capital, an investment banking firm focused on the financial markets, investment services, risk consulting and management has announced the appointment of its new Group Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Ife Elizabeth Fashola. Ife, who joined Kedari Capital in 2008 as the Head of Legal and Corporate Services, is also a director at First Atlantic Asset Management Limited, Ghana. Having worked for several years in the UK with organisations such as the former Financial Services Authority and Lehman Brothers, she has a reputation for effective management, team-building, and a strong academic background, with complementary experience in the financial services sector. Commenting on the appointment, the outgoing CEO, Mr Odun Odunfa stated: “We are delighted to welcome Mrs Fashola as our new Group CEO. She brings with her substantial international experience in the financial services sector, which will help strengthen service delivery to our clients.” Working closely with her will be the newly appointed Executive Director, Mr. Muyiwa Oshin, who was the Head of the Corporate Finance and Advisory Unit at Kedari Capital. Muyiwa who has over two decades’ transaction experience in investment banking and the capital markets, is also a director at First Atlantic Brokers Limited, Ghana.
STRATEGISING FOR PEACEFUL RETIREMENT
L-R: Director General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga; Managing Director/CEO, CrusaderSterling Pensions Ltd, Mr. Adeniyi Falade; Executive Director, Operations, CrusaderSterling Pensions Ltd, Mr. Conrad Ifode; Zonal Head, National Pension Commission South-West Zonal Office, Mr. Babatunde Philips and Mr. Sola Adeosun of National Pension Commission South-West Zonal office, at the CrusaderSterling Pensions Ltd Retirees’ Forum held at Sheraton Hotel Lagos… recently
External Reserves Down as CBN Settles Matured Obligations Obinna Chima Nigeria’s external reserves diminished to $25.860 billion as at August 12, 2016, following the settlement of matured obligation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The latest external reserves position revealed by the CBN showed that the reserves derived mostly from the proceeds of crude oil sales fell by 1.9 per cent or N514 million in the last one month, compared with the $26.374 billion it was as at July 12, 2016. Following the lifting of the peg on the naira on June 20, the central bank conducted a Special Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) to clear the backlog of $4.02 billion pent-up demand for forex.
ECONOMY According to the CBN, it sold $532 million on the spot market and $3.487billion in the forwards market. A breakdown of the $3.487 billion forward sales by the central bank had shown that $697 billion was for one month (1M), $1.22 billion for two months (2M) and $1.57 billion for three months (3M). Also last month, the central bank settled onemonth forward contracts of $697 million. The naira, which closed at N317.34 to the dollar on the interbank forex market on Monday has been under pressure in the forex market as complaints of scarcity of the greenback persist. The central bank ditched
its 16-month old peg on the naira in June and introduced a flexible exchange rate regime to allow the currency to trade freely on the interbank market. But as a result of forex scarcity in the system which had resulted to the strong volatility observed in the forex market, the banking sector intervened last week in its bid to achieve exchange rate stability. Oil prices rose on Monday to their highest in nearly a month as speculation intensified about potential producer action to support prices in an oversupplied market. Brent crude was up $1.19, or 2.5 per cent, at $48.16 per barrel. The international benchmark futures are up about 13 per cent above the last close in July. Crude oil prices recorded
nearly 20 per cent climb in April to about $46 per barrel. OPEC crude-oil production surged by 484,000 barrels to 33.217 million a day in April, according to a Bloomberg survey. THISDAY had reported that the external reserves were expected to decline further due to the settlement of large swap positions between the banks and the CBN. The federal government last week said it had saved about N1.4 trillion that would have been paid as subsidy to oil marketers as a result of the successful deregulation of the downstream oil and gas sector a few months ago. Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Continued on page 24
Market Operators Lobby to Benefit from Proposed MTN Listing Goddy Egene
CAPITAL MARKET
As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awaits the formal application of the MTN Group to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), THISDAY checks have revealed that some local stockroking firms have started lobbying to be part of the offer. The Africa’s biggest mobilephone operator had agreed to list its shares in Nigeria as part of a deal to pay a N330 billion ($1 billion) fine in cash to the Nigerian government for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers. Preparatory to the listing, MTN last month announced the
appointment of Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited (together with its affiliates, The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Standard Advisory London Limited) and Citigroup Global Markets Limited as its Joint Transaction Advisors and Joint Global Coordinators with Stanbic acting as Lead Issuing House. Although SEC said last week it was yet to receive the formal application from MTN, local stockbrokers have started working towards becoming part of the Nigerian parties to the offer so as to earn some income. Market sources said brokers
that have been having close working relationship with the Stanbic Capital and Citi Bank in Nigeria are already exploring that relationship to be part of the deal. “If it eventually comes, the MTN listing will be major deal in the market. Considering that fact that the market has been without initial public offering for a long time, this is an opportunity no one would want to miss. I can tell you that many operators are working out strategies to be part of the offer,” a senior stockbroker told THISDAY on Monday. The broker explained that “as you are aware, MTN has said a full syndicate including Nigerian parties will be
appointed in due and this is the time for whoever that wants to be part of the that local team to work for it.” MTN had said in a statement last month that it was targeting 2017 to list its shares on the NSE. “MTN Nigeria is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has resolved to proceed with preparations for a listing of MTN Nigeria on the NSE as soon as commercially and legally possible and has established a management task team with the responsibility to guide the company towards a listing. At present, MTN Nigeria is targeting that the Continued on page 24
Propak Exhibition Holds September
Preparations are being concluded for the 2016 Propak West Africa, the largest packaging, printing and plastics exhibition in the region, which will hold in Lagos from September 20 to 22. The organisers expect to welcome 150 exhibitors and over 3000 visitors over three days to the event. The Exhibition’s Director, George Pearson said: “The exhibition provides huge foreign investment opportunities for the region. Propak West Africa is the biggest international exhibition of its kind within the processing and packaging industry. We are bringing representatives from thirty different countries from over 100 exhibitors. What we want to do is raise the profile of the packaging and printing industries in particular and hopefully we can bring those countries in to focus on the these markets.” According to him, it is the food processing and packaging element of Propak’s Conference programme that is expected to attract particular attention this year. “This year, the FoodPro element of the conference programme is centred around innovation; alongside themes of automation solutions and local and international market challenges. Speakers from Krones and Gebo Cermex will enable homegrown brands to ensure their packaging is in line with globally accepted standards of quality and safety,” he said.
Visa Rewards Customer Loyalty
Visa, the global e-payments platform, has rewarded Effiong Eneh Bassey and thirty other cardholders who participated in the “e-commerce campaign.” Bassey won an all-expense paid trip to Rio 2016 Olympics while others were rewarded with N50, 000 shopping voucher each. The campaign, which kicked off in May 2016, was designed to encourage card holders to activate their visa cards on the ‘Verified by Visa platform.’Accordingtoastatement,the‘VerifiedbyVisa’isapasswordprotected authentication system designed to confirm the identity of the cardholder when a Visa card is used online. A password is requested from only the cardholder to help the bank verify that the genuine cardholder is entering their card information into an e-commerce website. The cardholders who participated in the campaign spent a minimum of N10, 000 on a local or international website. A total of 50, 000 cardholders participated in this campaign, 31 winners were randomly selected by an electronic draw. Representatives from Visa Nigeria, Lagos State Lottery Board, and the Consumer Protection Council were present to ensure a smooth and transparent selection process. Senior Business Development Leader, Visa West Africa, Emezino Afiegbe said: “This campaign is aimed at encouraging the use of our cardsforonlinepaymentsandalsotodrivee-commercetransactions. At Visa, we constantly explore ways to give incentives that will drive the use of cards for payments amongst Nigerians.”
We are currently carrying out examinations and also conducting stress test. At the end of it, we will determine how best the industry should be supported
Director, Banking Supervision, CBN
Tokunbo Martins