Page 18 - AfrOil Week 21 2020

AfrOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrOil
The NCIB will be in effect until June 14, 2020. The Company has purchased 375,600 Class B Shares under the NCIB since April 14, 2020. Orca Exploration Group, May 21 2020
FINANCE
Axxela launches
successful issue
of Series 1 Bonds
Axxela, a portfolio company with a vision of becoming the preferred and fastest-growing gas and power firm in sub-Saharan Africa, has concluded the Axxela Funding 1 PLC Series 1 NGN10bn seven-year fixed rate senior secured bond issue(under the NGN50bn bond issuance programme).
The Series 1 Bonds were issued by Axxela Funding 1 PLC, a special-purpose funding vehi- cle and wholly-owned subsidiary of Axxela.
At the conclusion of the book build, the NGN10bn issuance was 24% subscribed, and this oversubscription presented the Company with the mandate to accept an additional 15% of the proposed issuance size. This brings the Series 1 total proceeds to NGN11.5bn.
Speaking on the inaugural issuance, Axxe- la’s Chief Executive Officer Bolaji Osunsanya remarked: “Our milestone debut market entry underpins the necessary symbiosis between pri- vate entities and debt capital markets. We appre- ciate the support of all corporates, professional parties, and investors involved in the ratification and issuance process. The favorable response indicates the level of investor confidence in our Company’s reputation, brand, and performance. This funding will support our multi-pronged growth strategy of optimising our operations and assets, expanding our footprint, and revolu- tionising the midstream sector. As a prime port- folio company with demonstrated leadership within the sector, we remain uniquely positioned to satisfy the growing natural gas and energy demand across the sub-region.”
Axxela’s strategic diversification plans include a ramp up of its gas supply and trading activities across West Africa, alongside the build out of key power and virtual pipeline infrastructure.
Axxela’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Ononiwu said: “This is another remarkable feat in our growth story and provides an appropriate financing mix for our enterprise. The oversub- scription of our first capital market issuance in such a challenging market is testament to the strengths and prospects of our company. This success avails us the liquidity to implement our business plans, while lowering our cost of capi- tal. In addition, we are well positioned to access
the market in the future, giving us the opportu- nity to continuously provide real value for our shareholders.”
Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited and Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited were lead issuing houses for Axxela, while Afrinvest (West Africa), FBNQuest Merchant Bank, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, Renaissance Securities (Nigeria) and Vetiva Capital Management were joint issu- ing houses on the transaction.
Axxela is a Helios Investment Partners LLP portfolio company and a designated natural gas shipper on the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Axxela is also the pioneering private sector-led developer of natural gas distribu- tion in Nigeria, delivering at peak 80mn cubic feet (2.27mn cubic metres) per day to over 180 industrial and commercial customers via a vast network of gas infrastructure. In 20 years, Axx- ela has built over 309 km in gas pipeline infra- structure and provides unique energy solutions primarily through its subsidiaries: Gaslink Nige- ria, Gas Network Services, Central Horizon Gas Company and Transit Gas Nigeria. Axxela is rated BBB+/PositiveStable by Agusto & Co and Bbb+/Stable by GCR.
Axxela, May 22 2020
TECHNOLOGY
NCDMB to Spur O&G Innovation with BrentPlus
The Nigerian Content Development and Mon- itoring Board (NCDMB) on Friday announced the launch of BrentPlus, a series of initiatives under its Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology (NOGTECH) programme that will stimulate innovations in the oil and gas industry and ancillary sectors and create a platform for local creation of digital technologies.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB Simbi Kesiye Wabote unveiled BrentPlus during the webinar organised by the Board, titled “Innovat- ing for the future of Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Industry anditsLinkageSectors.”Headdedthatoneofthe strategic initiatives under the Nigerian Content 10-year roadmap is to promote the development of innovative in-country solutions in the oil and
gas industry.
The webinar was the first by the Board since
the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and according to Wabote, it will form part of the new channels and technologies NCDMB will be using henceforth to engage stakeholders of the oil and gas industry.
He listed the processes of BrentPlus as Prob- lems Definition, Call for Innovation, Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology Hackathon, Incubation and Scale-Up.
Providing details of the Problems Definition stage, the Executive Secretary said the Board will administer surveys to focus groups and stake- holders to understand the biggest challenges facing the sector. He promised that the Board will soon hold a Webinar to get feedback on the opportunities for digital innovation.
“The problems must not be related to the oil and gas sector. It can be daily life problems,” he clarified.
Subsequently, NCDMB will pick out the big- gest challenges and call for innovations from interested teams with ideas, prototypes, solu- tions and relevant experiences, after which, the applications will be reviewed by judges and shortlisted, with a few selected.
He stated that the third stage of the process will be a Hackathon, a three-day residential camp where “participating teams will meet with industry stakeholders and further understand the challenges. Teams will revalidate their solu- tions and pitch at the end of boot camp. Five win- ning teams will be selected.”
Wabote explained further that Hackathon enables crowdsourcing of digital innovations that will solve challenges. The idea is to provide a platform for individuals to get together for a short period of time to collaborate on a project, he added.
He hinted that after the fourth stage, which is incubation, “five winning teams will get $10,000 equity-free grant each. They will also get work-space, expert mentors, global partners and unprecedented market access over three- months, ensuring that they become commercial- and investor-ready.”
He added: “At the end of the incubation, the teams will participate in a showcase day to demonstrate their progress. This showcase will aim to connect them with investors and indus- try stakeholders where they can further amplify their market access.”
Specifying the criteria for eligibility, the Executive Secretary said participants “must be a team/company of at least two or more mem- bers with at least 75% of the founding team as Nigerians. The team/company must be a regis- tered, or intending to register as a profit/business entity. The solution described in response to the challenge must be driven by digital technology- Software, Hardware or both.”
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Week 21 27•May•2020