A leading real estate company, Family Home Funds, has signed the first corporate Sukuk bond in Nigeria.
The historic bond was signed by Family Home Funds Managing Director, Mr Femi Adewole at a ceremony attended by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of finance and other senior officials at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja, on Thursday.
Speaking at the event, Adewole disclosed that his organization has successfully completed the issuance of the N10 billion seven-year Ijara Lease Sukuk due in 2028.
He said, ” Today, the Family Homes Funds Limited through Family Homes Sukuk Issuance Program Plc has successfully completed the issuance of N10 billion 7-year 13% Series 1 Ijara Lease Sukuk due 2028 (“Series I Sukuk”) under the N30b Sukuk Issuance Programme.
“The Series I Sukuk is the first ever SEC registered corporate Sukuk to be issued in Nigeria. It is also the first ever corporate Sukuk certified by the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
“The transaction also represents Family Homes’ debut in the Nigerian Debt Capital Markets,” he added.
Adewole explained that the issuance was twice oversubscribed receiving significant interest from a wide range of high value and quality investors including pension funds, ethical funds, fund managers, non-finance Islamic institutions, trustees, corporates and high net worth individuals.
“It is worthy of note that about 64% of the subscription were from Pension Funds. The net proceeds from this issue will finance new homes for Nigerians on low income across this great nation, contributing to our objective of developing up to 200,000 homes by December 2022,” he stated.
Adewole described the development as a landmark event in the unfolding history of Family Homes Funds-a young organization with a vision to transform the housing market by making safe decent housing accessible to the overwhelming proportion of the population, particularly those on low income.
The MD lauded the finance minister for her support and encouragement while applauding the FHF board for their commitment to the growth of the young company.
“Honourable Minister, I do not forget your constant urging and guidance about the need to diversify our funding sources and to think out of the box.
“With the ever present support of the Board, we are committed to doing just that. We know that the seemingly impossible challenge of addressing the poor access to housing for people on low income, the damaging effect this has on their quality of life and ultimately on our economic development will only be broken by the power of innovation and discipline of execution. Today marks a significant first step on that journey,” he noted.
