Skye Bank Plc, announced it will sell as much 100 billion naira ($500 million) of debt to improve its liquidity.
The bank will start with a 20 billion naira, 90-day bond that will be offered to domestic institutional investors in a sale closing March 27, Chief Executive Officer Timothy Oguntayo told reporters in Lagos, the commercial capital, on Tuesday.
“It is one way the bank will boost liquidity other than deposits,” Oguntayo said. “Liquidity remains a challenge to the banks due to tight regulatory requirements such as the increase in public and private sector cash-reserve ratios.”
Skye, which has $6.8 billion of assets, joins Nigerian lenders including Access Bank Plc in raising capital amid measures imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to bolster the naira. The central bank last year increased lenders’ cash-reserve requirement for public sector deposits to 75 percent from 50 percent and private sector deposits to 20 percent from 15 percent.
The yield on Skye’s initial debt sale will probably be 75 basis points to 100 basis points above similar-maturity government debt, said Oguntayo. Yields on Nigeria’s three-month Treasury bills fell 96 basis points to 14.21 percent on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Last year, this website analysed how Skye Bank will able to raise enough capital to pay for the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank. The bank raised eyebrows after it raised capital without any significant raise. Skye Bank is yet to release its 2014 Annual report
Source: Bloomberg/Nairamterics
