News Release
Delegates from Nigeria’s Banking, Finance and Industrial sectors gathered once again at Lagos to discuss the current status and future prospects of Nigeria’s Capital Markets. This is the second annual workshop, hosted by J.P. Morgan, Thomson Reuters, the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange and was attended by more than 150 delegates.
The first workshop was in November last year, which explored ways to increase foreign investment in Nigeria. This year’s workshop focused on strengthening and widening Nigeria’s still relatively nascent equity and debt capital markets.
The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of the City of London Rt. Hon. Alderman Michael Bear, the UK’s financial ambassador. He highlighted London’s position as the world’s leading centre for international capital and the role it can play in both assisting the development of Nigeria’s financial sector and working jointly to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure development.
The Lord Mayor was followed by Ms. Arunma Oteh, Director General of the Securities & Exchanges Commission of Nigeria, who outlined recent steps to strengthen the equity market, while stating that she has been encouraged by the fact that both corporate as well as government and local bodies have been able to tap the country’s bond markets. She also praised the completion of the bank restructuring exercise, saying that Nigeria’s largest services sector has been de-risked to a great extent and has been instrumental in improving investor sentiment on Nigeria.
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). He updated the audience on recent steps taken to restore local as well as foreign investor confidence in the market and the introduction of new products.
He expressed hope that when the economic & market environment steadies, companies from sectors such as power, upstream oil & gas, telecom and agriculture would choose the equity route to raising capital, thereby increasing the breadth of the NSE. Mr. Onyema said, “The Nigerian Capital Market is undergoing a metamorphosis. While change is an inevitable effect of growth, we must collaborate to do it proactively and strategically in order to become the gateway to African markets.”
The welcome address was made by Tosin Adewuyi, Senior Country Officer, Nigeria, at J.P. Morgan who spoke about J.P. Morgan’s long standing presence in Nigeria and positive view of the continued development of the Nigerian capital markets.
In addition, panel discussions were held on subjects crucial to Nigeria’s current financial & economic environment. Bayo Osolake from J.P. Morgan led a panel that discussed how debt has emerged as an important financing option for Nigerian companies.
The second panel led by the London Stock Exchange’s Head of Primary Markets for Africa Ibukun Adebayo, concentrated on the financing of Nigeria’s utilities and upstream energy companies which would soon be tapping capital markets once the government’s ambitious reform agenda makes headway. Said Mr. Adebayo; “Energy and electricity sector reform will go a long way in ensuring that Nigeria becomes the African economic powerhouse of the future. As the world’s largest centre of international equity capital and as the natural home of energy, infrastructure & resources companies, the London Stock Exchange is best placed among all global exchanges to finance Nigerian companies in these sectors.”
The final panel was chaired by Alex Ménage, Business Development Manager – Africa for Thomson Reuters, which discussed steps that can be taken by the Nigerian corporate sector and the market to enhance international investor perceptions. Mr. Ménage said “Thomson Reuters is extremely pleased to sponsor and organize this event in Lagos for the second year running. Our commitment to Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, continues to grow. This year, for the African Fixed Income community, Thomson Reuters has launched an Auction Solution aimed at providing Central Banks and Debt issuers scalable solutions to facilitate and manage their Debt auctions, with full transparency and reliability.
In Equity, as Nigerian companies are actively competing with other frontier and emerging markets for international capital allocation, they can rely on Thomson Reuters’ suite of Investor Relations solutions for these activities. Our presence in the region goes back to early 20th century, and I am proud to say we remain committed to our clients and to help accelerate the momentum of a world class capital markets’ establishment.
For more information please contact:
Yvonne Diaz, PR Director – Financial Services & EMEA Thomson Reuters +44 20 7542 2615X 52615 PR Hotline: +44 (0) 207 542 0030 or
yvonne.diaz@thomsonreuters.com
Wole Tokede, Corporate Communications, NSE, Tel: +234 14638333-5, Mob: +234 80 3318 1574 or wtokede@nigerianstockexchange.com
Mohan Bhuyan; +91 98100 58564 (M) or
mbhuyan@londonstockexchange.com
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