Interswitch lists N23 billion bond on NSE

Integrated digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch Limited, has listed its N23 billion bond on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The Callable Senior Unsecured Bond, which was listed on 31st January 2020, has a tenor of seven years, payable in full at maturity, at a fixed rate of 15%. It forms part of a N30 billion Debt Issuance Programme offered through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Interswitch Africa One Plc.

The bond issue was concluded in October 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where Interswitch disclosed its plan to list the bond on the NSE after the SEC’s approval.

Interswitch Limited is a leading technology-driven company with a focus on the digitisation of payments in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

Oscar Onyema, the NSE chief, remarking on the listing, congratulated the management of Interswitch Limited and the parties to the issue for a successful capital-raising exercise and the listing of the bond on the NSE.

“We are pleased to be a partner to Interswitch Limited in its quest to expand its footprints by raising fresh capital. We see a win for Interswitch as a win for Nigeria. As a sustainable Exchang​e and a premiere listing destination, we are committed to supporting our issuers with tailored financing options that will place them in a vantage position to compete in the regional and global markets,” Mr Onyema stated.

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On his part, Mitchell Elegbe, the Group Managing Director/Founder Interswitch Limited said “we are delighted with the outcome of our capital raising efforts. We have evolved over the past 17 years into a technology unicorn focused on providing digital solutions to customers in Nigeria and across Africa. We, therefore, see this listing as a first step in a new phase of our journey and we are determined to keep going.”

FBNQuest Merchant Bank and Stanbic IBTC Capital acted as Lead Financial Advisors/Issuing Houses and ABSA Capital Markets Nigeria, FCMB Capital Markets, Quantum Zenith Capital & Investments and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, as Joint Issuing Houses.

Following Interswitch’s botched attempt to raise more than $1 billion through a dual listing on the NSE and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2016, TA Associates, a global private equity firm, acquired a minority stake in the company about a year after.

Visa bought 20% stake in the company at $200 million in November 2019 at a time it was valued at $1 billion.

British Africa-focused company, Helios Investment Partners has owned a majority stake in Interswitch since 2010. Helios is said to own about 71.9% stake in the firm.

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