NIGERIA – Guinness Nigeria Plc, one of the nation’s leading brewers, in Thursday disclosed its establishment of a N10 billion commercial paper (CP) on Wednesday, with a view to launching its inaugural CP issue under the programme on or before May 8th, 2015.

The firm said in a statement that the signing ceremony took place in its Lagos head office recently.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the statement quoted the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria, Mr. John O’Keeffe, to have said: “We are very pleased with the successful launch of this CP programme for Guinness Nigeria Plc and the support received from our advisors to get us to this point.

“This will be the first corporate CP programme to be established in recent times, following the new CBN guidelines coming into effect, and we are pleased to be the first company to take advantage of this opportunity. We look forward to a robust uptake of this inaugural issuance imminently, whilst retaining the flexibility offered by the programme to tap into the CP market again in the nearest future.”

Witnessing the signing ceremony were representatives of the transaction advisors which included Stanbic-IBTC Capital Limited and Standard Chartered Securities Nigeria Limited as Joint Arrangers, Aluko & Oyebode as Legal Counsel, KPMG as Auditors to the Issuer, and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited as Issuing Calculation and Paying Agent.

Also in attendance were officials of FMDQ OTC, a Securities and Exchange Commission licenced over-the-counter market operator for fixed income securities.

Also speaking at the event, the Head – Debt Capital Markets, of Stanbic IBTC Capital Kobby Bentsi-Enchill stated that Guinness Nigeria has shown industry leadership in taking up the CP.

He described the transaction as a unique milestone event, saying it represents the first CP programme to be established by a non-financial institution corporate issuer following the new guidelines on commercial paper from the Central Bank of Nigeria, published in 2009.

“In that regard, Guinness Nigeria has again clearly demonstrated its innovative approach towards executing the company’s financing strategy, in an increasingly competitive market environment.

We at Stanbic IBTC are also proud to have partnered with Guinness on this landmark achievement,” he added.

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

These brands include Johnnie Walker, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness. Guinness Nigeria is the manufacturer of recognised brands like Malta Guinness, Harp, Snapp and Orijin.

May 4, 2015; http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/guinness-nigeria-establishes-n10bn-commercial-paper-programme/208198/