FCMB suspends N30bn commercial paper over price distortion

First City Monument Bank Limited, (FCMB) the Flagship Company in the FCMB Group Plc, has suspended its planned capital raiser of about N30 billion in short-term debt capital through the issuance of commercial papers (CPs).

In a regulatory filing signed by Mrs Olufunmilayo Adedibu, company secretary, FCMB, said it was suspending the CP issuance due to recent price distortion in the market.

“This is as a result of the Nigerian Treasury Bills auction of Wednesday, December 9, 2020, which distorted price discovery,” FCMB stated.

FCMB had planned the N30 billion CP issuance under its N100 billion CP programme. The CP was arranged with a tenor of 260 days.

FCMB had indicated that the net proceeds from the suspended debt capital raising would have been used to support its short-term funding needs.

According to the group, the CP issuance would serve as an additional funding source for the bank.

Key extracts of the third quarter results for the period ended September 30, 2020 showed appreciable growth across key performance indicators.

Gross earnings rose to N146.43 billion in third quarter 2020 as against N135.82 billion in third quarter 2019.

Profit before tax rose from N12.80 billion to N15.85 billion. After taxes, net profit rose from N10.79 billion in third quarter 2019 to N13.90 billion in third quarter 2020.