Money raised from the exchange’s listings was up 164 per cent, compared to £5.7 billion in 2016, the LSE said in a statement on Friday.

It added that 20 North American companies chose London for their listing, including Dallas-based oil and gas company Kosmos Energy (KOS.L).

London has seen a pick-up in listings this year after uncertainty around Britain’s future outside of the EU single market in 2016 dampened investor confidence and caused a number of initial public offerings (IPO) to be postponed or canceled.

“In spite of the debates about Brexit, London’s highly global, deep and liquid capital markets continue to be the ideal partner for funding the world’s growth,” Chief Executive Officer Nikhil Rathi said.

“It is particularly significant that the number of international listings in London is up, with North American listings up nearly seven-fold on last year,” Rathi said.

The listing of 35 investment companies drove total IPOs value higher, with £5 billion raised from vehicle, including real estate investment trusts or special purpose acquisition firms, compared to just £644 million in 2016.

However, the average share performance of newly listed companies in 2017 was down 34 per cent year on year, the LSE said.

Raising $1.5 billion, the largest single London float in 2017 was Russia’s En+ Group (ENPLq.L), which manages tycoon Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum and hydropower businesses.

Broadcasting masts company Arqiva abandoned plans to raise £1.5 billion and business services firm TMF scrapped a planned float of up to £1.3 billion in favor of an outright sale to a private equity firm.

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Addressing an elite gathering of capital and money market players, investment bankers, treasurers and other fund managers at the London Stock Exchange over the weekend, Emefiele’s message was summed up in one key sentence: “Nigeria is ready for business”

At a forum organised by the London Stock Exchange, in collaboration with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Emefiele, who drew intermittent applause from the gathering, told the story of how Nigeria emerged from what was its worst recession in decades, revealing the ongoing reforms and the huge opportunities available to investors in several sectors notably agriculture, solid minerals and infrastructure.

The CBN was particularly lauded by participants for its ingenious management of the foreign exchange market which saw the recovery of the Naira as well as the reforms in the funding of agriculture as demonstrated in the success of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) and the establishment of the highly successful Investors and exporters window of the foreign exchange market.

Present at the occasion were the British Minister for International Development, Hon. Priti Patel; Governor of Edo state Dr Godwin Obaseki; Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; CEO of the London Stock Exchange, Nikhil Rathi; CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyema; DG of Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO), Mrs Patience Oniha; and Ik Chioke, Group CEO of Afrinvest.

Also at the occasion, the Nigerian Banking sector report conducted by Afrinvest was launched and it shows that Nigerian banks remain resilient and profitable in spite of the headwinds emanating from the current economic situation in the country.

Part of the highlights of the occasion was the honour given to Emefiele to ring the opening bell for trading last Friday at the London Stock Exchange.

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“We are very optimistic that food prices will come down and as they come down, it will help to complement the reduction in core inflation,” Emefiele told journalists on the sidelines of an investment conference at the London Stock Exchange.

“I expected a more aggressive moderation. We are hoping that by the middle of next year we should begin to approach the high single digits,” he said, adding that around nine percent would be a good target.

Annual inflation in Nigeria slowed for an eighth month in September, easing to 15.98 per cent.

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The Debt Management Office (DMO) had announced the commencement of a global offering of Nigeria’s first Diaspora Bond by filing a registration statement for the bonds with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dabiri-Erewa gave the advice in a statement issued by her Media Assistant, Abdurrahman Balogun, saying the Diaspora bond will be used to raise funds from Nigerians in the Diaspora to finance capital projects and provide an opportunity for them to participate in the development of the country.

She said her office as well as the Nigerians in the Diaspora was excited as the first ever Diaspora bond is being rolled out to the benefits of Nigerians.

The SSA said it was a unique way of lubricating the interest of Nigerians in the Diaspora to participate in the developmental projects being carried out by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun had in February promised that the Diaspora bond will soon be rolled out by the DMO.

The DMO had said that application would be made for the bonds to be admitted to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange Plc.

The office said this was to ensure that the bonds were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s regulated market.

“The bonds will be direct general obligations of Nigeria and will be denominated in U.S. dollars.

“The international Joint Lead Managers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited.

“The Nigerian Joint Lead Managers are First Bank of Nigeria Limited and United Bank for Africa Plc,’’ it said.

The DMO added that there would be a series of investor meetings in the UK, the U. S. and Switzerland from June 13.

The office said that pricing was expected to occur following the investor meetings and subject to market conditions.

As part of measures to fund capital expenditures, the Federal Government had in February announced its offering of one billion dollars euro bond under its newly-established one billion dollars Global Medium Term Note programme.

Dabiri-Erewa said “We are very excited that the National Assembly has approved the Diaspora Bond. We believe Nigerians abroad want to support development in Nigeria and such would be glad to invest in it.”

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Dr Abraham Nwankwo, the DMO Director -General, made this known during the bond listing at the NSE in Lagos.

Nwankwo said that the Eurobond was raised under reasonable terms for funding of capital expenditure stated in the budget.

He said that the projects included rails, bridges and power, adding that the bond was the first ever foreign currency bond to be listed on the exchange.

According to him, the listing of the bond is the DMO commitment to democratise what it does for Nigerians to have access, choice and inclusiveness to the bond trading.

He said that the listing of domestic Sovereign Eurobond reinforces Federal Government’s commitment to deepen and grow the Nigerian capital market.

Nwankwo explained that developing the domestic market would bridge the infrastructure deficit constraining economic growth.

He noted that the Eurobond which was over-subscribed by 780 per cent was part of government funding strategy for its 2016 capital expenditure and it would be spent on key infrastructure projects in line with its economic plan.

“This huge over subscription rate underscores a buoyant investor’s appetite for building exposure to Nigeria and demonstrates international confidence in the economy’s long term prospects,”he said.

Also, Monday Usiade of DMO said that minimum denominations for the international Eurobond issuance was 200,000 dollars at multiples of $1,000.

Usiade said the coupon rate for the bond was 7.875 per cent per annum payable on semi-annual basis.

He explained that the primary listing was London Stock Exchange (LSE), while NSE and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange were the secondary listing.

Usiade said that investors distribution of the bond indicated that asset managers stood at 73 per cent, hedge fund 13 per cent, insurance/pension 10 per cent, banks/private banks three per cent and others one per cent.

Accordingly, Ade Bajomo NSE, the Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, commended DMO for listing the Eurobond in the nation’s bourse.

He noted that the domestic listing would diversify its investors’ base by giving Nigerian institutional investors access to the bond.

“The listing of the dollar denominated bond on the Exchange will boost price discovery and liquidity in the local market as well as help attract reliable long term foreign currency denominated funds into the financial market.

He said that it would set the foundation for raising and listing more foreign denominated securities in Nigeria which would open up additional capital raising options for issuers and portfolio diversification opportunities to investors”.

“The Exchange, working with Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) developed and presented to issuers and transaction parties, a framework depicting onshore and cross border trade and settlement process in line with robust market practices.

“This is to ensure seamless trading and settlement of the Eurobond, Bajomo said.

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The over-subscription was with orders in excess of $7.8 billion compared to a pre-issuance target of $1 billion.

The bond, issued under Nigeria’s newly established Global Medium Term Note programme, is the third in the series after the ones in 2011 and 2013.

The note has February 16, 2032 as maturity date for repayment on the principal, and is expected to yield interest at a rate of 7.88 percent.

The Federal Ministry of Finance said proceeds from the bond would be used to fund capital expenditures in the 2017 budget.

The government said the offering attracted significant interest from leading global institutional investors.

The notes would be admitted to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and available to trade on the London Stock Exchange’s regulated market.

“Nigeria will apply for the Notes to be eligible for trading and listed on the Nigerian FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange,” finance ministry said in statement.

The pricing for the bond was determined during a roadshow to promote the issuence of the bond.

The roadshow was led by the minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; accompanied by her counterpart in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma; Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele; and Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, as well as the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.

“Nigeria is implementing an ambitious economic reform agenda designed to deliver long-term sustainable growth and reduce reliance on oil and gas revenues while reducing waste and improving the efficiency of government expenditure,” Adeosun said of the bond.

“At the heart of the agenda is a commitment to invest in developing Nigeria’s infrastructure through a target 30 per cent annual budget commitment to capital expenditure.

“We are establishing the building blocks for long-term growth and making the hard decisions that must be made to reset our economy appropriately.”

Commenting on the Notes’ pricing, the DMO Director General, Abraham Nwankwo, said: “Nigeria is delighted to have successfully priced its third Eurobond issue.

“We have successfully extended the tenor of our borrowing programme in the international capital markets to 15 years, at a price that reflects belief in the quality of Nigeria’s cash flows and government.”

He said the Eurobond is the latest step in a broader debt strategy designed to significantly re-balance our debt profile towards longer term financing and reduce the burden of interest on our annual budget.

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The minister, who was joined by Greg Hands, a member of the UK parliament and the UK minister of state for international trade, said Nigeria is good for business.

Adeosun, who explained how Nigeria intends to fund its budget deficit, said Nigeria’s low-interest lending rate remains on course. She said the country has a headroom for borrowing, since it has a low debt-to-GDP ratio.

Speaking on Nigeria, Hands said: “I know from my own time in Nigeria that the UK and Nigeria have long enjoyed a close and prosperous business relationship.

“The UK is one of Nigeria’s largest investors and the government is committed to boosting trade between our two countries.

“We are actively helping British companies export to Nigeria and Nigerian businesses to locate and expand in the UK. I welcome this initiative as a further step to deepen the commercial links between our nations.”

Amina Mohammed, minister of environment, gave a keynote address discussing the Nigerian government’s green agenda.

The event, hosted in collaboration with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), was attended by senior Nigerian policymakers, including Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, director-general, Nigerian Pension Commission; Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); and Roger Brown, CFO of Seplat Petroleum.

“Our collaboration with London Stock Exchange is deliberate and strategic,” Onyema said.

“It is geared at encouraging seamless cross-border access between our capital markets to ultimately drive deeper capital markets that enable capital formation for businesses and Governments.”

He added that the deal creates “larger liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for our investors; and enhance capacity and promote diversity of investment products to meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers”.

In November 2014, London Stock Exchange Group and NSE signed a capital markets agreement aimed at supporting African companies seeking dual listings in London and Lagos.

At 112, more African companies are listed in London than any other international exchange, and the companies have a combined market capitalisation in excess of $200 billion — the largest concentration of African quoted companies outside of Johannesburg.

Eight of those companies have their primary areas of business in Nigeria.

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Dangote told Reuters the $12 billion refinery would have a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day, cornering the market in Africa’s most populous country, where fuel shortages are a perennial problem.

Until recently, Nigeria was Africa’s biggest crude oil producer but it imports 80 percent of its fuel because poor maintenance means its four refineries never reach full output. Its current daily consumption is 260,000 barrels, according to the International Energy Agency.

A slump in commodity prices has hammered Nigeria’s economy – along with many others on the continent – and raised the cost of borrowing but Dangote, whose business empire stretches from cement to flour and pasta, is pushing hard into oil and gas.

“It will be ready in the first quarter of 2019,” the billionaire founder of Dangote Cement said of the refinery. “Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019.”

Dangote said the plant, which will include a $2 billion fertilizer unit, was being funded through “loans, export credit agencies and our own equity”.

Some $3.25 billion had come from local and foreign banks, while the central bank had also chipped in. The IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, has lent $150 million.

Dangote also has plans for a gas pipeline through West Africa. Nigeria has the world’s ninth largest proven gas reserves, at 187 trillion cubic feet (tcf), but loses half of it to flaring and re-injection.

Despite the new focus on oil and gas, the business magnate said he planned to build cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia by 2018. Another plant will open in Congo Republic by September, he added.

A cement plant in Ivory Coast would triple output to 3 million tonnes, up from an initial target of 1 million, he said, while two new plants in Nigeria would add 6 million tonnes annually.

“As at now, what we have in operation is almost about 45 million tonnes, so we have just another 40 million tonnes to go,” he said, affirming an Africa-wide production target of 85 million tonnes a year by 2018.

The collapse in oil prices has hit Nigerian companies hard, with many unable to access dollars due to central bank foreign exchange restrictions imposed to prop up the naira.

The worst-affected have gone to the wall or shed large numbers of staff, but a study by Reuters of an 11-week period in March to May showed that Dangote firms managed to secure a healthy share of dollars at the cheap official rate.

Dangote said the $161 million bought during that period from the central bank merely reflected the size of his business and did not represent preferential treatment.

“We have been badly affected like any other company,” he said, arguing that operational costs totaled $100 million each month due to recurring expenses such as the purchase of parts for cement production and running a fleet of 9,000 trucks.

“When you are talking about $20 billion worth of projects, what is 161 million? One-hundred-and-sixty-one million dollars is my six weeks’ need,” he said.

Dangote’s sugar refinery in Nigeria had reduced capacity by 15 percent as a result of the dollar crisis. “We ended up owing a lot of dollars,” he said.

This week, the central bank removed the peg that has held the naira at the official rate of 197 for the last 16 months, leading to a 30 percent devaluation as the currency traded freely on the interbank market.

Dangote said the decline had pushed up costs.

“This devaluation alone, we have lost over 50 billion naira ($176 million),” he said.

“The gas, which is our main source of power, is priced in dollars. If there is 40 percent devaluation, your price will go up by 40 percent. Every single aspect of the production will go up by that percentage,” he said.

Dangote also said he was eyeing a listing on the London stock exchange “within the next year or two”.

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The unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 released to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges, was affected by decline in trading and revaluation gains occasioned by foreign exchange paucity.

The Bank also reported a post-tax ROAE of 24.19 percent and ROAA of 3.96 percent respectively, while Shareholders’ funds closed at N433.41 billion.

The bank’s Balance Sheet had a 5.2 percent growth in Total Assets to N2.66 trillion (FY 2015: N2.52 trillion). Loan book declined slightly by 0.7 percent to close at N1.36 trillion (FY 2015: N1.37 trillion), while customer’s deposit grew by 10.3 percent to N1.78 trillion.

The bank said that it approached its loan growth with disciplined strategy, in line with its Risk Management strategy, thus Non Performing Loans (NPL) of the bank for the period under review is still well within range at 3.51 percent and Net Interest Margin (NIM) for the period under review declined marginally by 9bps to 8.12 percent from 8.21 percent in Q1 2015.

Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank stated that “Despite a slow start in economic activity in 2016 and the extremely challenging business environment, the Bank recorded decent performance across key financial indices during the period.”.

He added that “We understand that there’s a lot more work to be done, we are however prepared for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead the 2016 financial year”.

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The interests, held through 56.25 percent ownership of the share capital of Belemaoil Producing Limited, it acquired from CNL in February 2015.

Seplat is a leading Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange.

“We are naturally very pleased with today’s ruling, not least because it means we are now free to deploy our proven operating expertise to realise the significant reserve, production and value potential these blocks hold.

“To give an idea of scale, we estimate these blocks to hold recoverable volumes of around 200 million barrels of oil equivalent to Seplat, a material volume by any standard and one which has now been unlocked for us,” said Austin Avuru, Seplat’s Chief Executive Officer.

“OML 53 fits neatly within our strategy of securing, commercialising and monetising natural gas in the Niger Delta to supply the rapidly growing domestic market and will further reinforce our position as a preeminent supplier of gas in Nigeria.

“OML 55 provides us with a number of attractive opportunities to boost oil and gas output, and is consistent with our strategy of prioritising assets that offer near-term production growth, cash-flow and reserve replacement potential in the onshore and shallow water offshore areas of Nigeria,” he added.

In Supreme Court judgment on Friday, Justice Syvester Ngwuta who read the lead judgment said the prayer brought to the apex court by the appellant, through its lawyer, Rickey Tarfa SAN lacked merit.

The lead judgment noted that the crux of the appeal is a simple matter of life span of an interim order noting that counsel to the appellant overblew the issues.

The court then adopted the five issues distilled by the appellant for determination resolving all the issues against the appellant.  It noted that the appeal lacked merit and accordingly, dismissed same . In addition,   a cost of 100 k each is awarded to each of respondents to be paid by the appellant.

All justices on the panel for this matter assented to the judgment and the consequential award against the appellant.  

Seplat Petroleum Development Company and the other respondents are yet to respond formally to the judgment.

Recalled that in August 2013, Chevron put up three acreages, OMLs 52, 53 and 55 for sale. In putting up the bid, Chevron had announced its intention of selling the three OMLs to one preferred bidder not necessarily the highest bidder.

After the first bid round, 30 bidders emerged. Chevron made a shortlist and when the sealed bids were opened, Britannia U had bid $1.6bn which the company later revised to $1.015bn.

The Seplat consortium with a bid of $800m was declared the preferred bidder and signed SPA Nov 28, 2014. The Seplat Consortium comprised Seplat and Amni with Belema joining the consortium subsequently.

Brittania U was however insistent that Chevron should declare it bid winner and sought an injunction restraining Chevron from concluding the sale to the Seplat Consortium.

The company approached a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos which granted an interlocutory injunction and further granted an extension while the issue of jurisdiction was pending.

Following the extension of the injunction, Seplat and its consortium partners went to the Appeal court on June 20, 2014 to challenge the High court’s injunction.

The Appeal court ruled in Seplat’s favour and vacated the injunction reasoning that the life of the interim order could not be extended, while the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court was being challenged.

Not satisfied with the Appeal Court’s ruling, Brittania U went to the Supreme Court to contest the appeal.

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