Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria and Standard Chartered Securities Nigeria have acted as paying agent and joint lead arranger respectively for the N10bn domestic commercial paper issuance programme for Guinness Nigeria Plc.

The formal signing of the deal was conducted in Lagos recently.

A statement by the lender said officials of FMDQ OTC, a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed over-the-counter market operator for fixed income securities, were present at the programme.

The N10bn commercial paper programme represents the first of such to be established by a non-financial institution corporate issuer following the new guidelines on commercial paper released by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2009.

The Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, Mrs. Bola Adesola, was quoted as commending Guinness for executing the financing strategy in an increasingly dynamic market environment.

She said, “Standard Chartered is proud to have played a leading role in supporting this ground breaking Commercial Paper programme for Guinness Nigeria Plc.

“We believe this is the beginning of many more opportunities to support institutional growth for our clients and the continuous development of the economy at large. This is clearly in line with our commitment to be here for good.

According to the statement, Stanbic-IBTC Capital Limited served as joint arrangers; Aluko & Oyebode acted as legal counsel, while KPMG acted as auditors to the issuers.

Guinness Nigeria is a part of Diageo, a global leader in beverage alcohol, with various collection of brands across beer, spirits and wine categories.

Punch