Nigeria’s Dangote Sugar Refinery has declared the issuance of its N42.79 billion Series 4 and 5 commercial papers, offered at 25% and 23%, respectively, were successfully issued. The company’s N150 billion commercial paper issuance program included issuing the papers.

The 181-day Series 4 and the 265-day Series 5 were issued for a total of N12.93 billion and N29.86 billion, respectively. The notification released by the company states that institutional and individual investors, along with pension and non-pension asset managers, participated in the CP issuance.

Dangote Sugar Refinery has issued N39.39 billion in 266-day Series 1 notes at a 17.08% discount rate as part of its N150 billion commercial paper program. Furthermore, at a 19.84% discount rate, the corporation has issued N6.15 billion in 184-day Series 2 notes.

At a discount rate of 21.30%, the business issued 254-day Series 3 notes for N53.47 billion. Therefore, Dangote Sugar has raised N141.8 billion through its Series 1 to 5 CPs. The letter to the group states that the corporation plans to diversify its funding sources through the issuance of commercial papers. The money raised will go toward meeting finance needs and sustaining short-term operating capital.

According to Dangote Sugar’s Q1 2024 financial reports, interest costs on commercial papers totalled N543.2 million, while interest costs on bank loans came to N21.48 million. This suggests that commercial papers rather than bank loans are the company’s primary source of funding.

These commercial papers’ high discount rates are a reflection of Nigeria’s high-interest monetary environment at the moment. The CBN increased Nigeria’s benchmark interest rate by 750 basis points to 26.25% in 2024, which had an impact on manufacturers’ capacity to finance working capital.

In essence, the CBN’s decision has caused banks to significantly raise their lending rates. For instance, UBA’s loan rates to the manufacturing sector ranged from 28.50% to 32.00% as of May 17, 2024. Due to this increase, businesses are now looking for alternate sources of funding, and debt securities like bonds and commercial papers are one such choice.

However, treasury bills (NT-bills) and OMO bills issued by the CBN are vying with commercial papers for investors’ attention in the market for short-term debt securities. Furthermore, the CBN’s yield rates on NT notes and OMO bills in 2024 have shown to be extremely competitive. For instance, the June 5, 2024, 182-day and 364-day NT bills have respective discount rates of 17.5% and 20.67%.

Companies have been obliged to implement rather high interest rates for these CPs to compete favourably. Series 3, 4, and 5 CPs from Dangote Sugar are available at discounts of 21.30%, 23%, and 25%, respectively. It has also forced other issuers to adopt high interest rates. Series 1 and Series 2 CPs were issued by Coronation Group with respective discount rates of 19.83% and 21.81%.