Central Bank of Nigeria gets tenders for 1.18 million oil warrants, will repurchase 369,154

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, March 29 - The Ministry of Finance of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria will repurchase 369,154 of the payment-adjustment rights represented by Nigeria's outstanding oil warrants for $220 per right in cash, according to a news release.

The bank began an offer on Feb. 26 under which holders of the warrants could submit offers to sell the warrants back to the bank for cash via a modified Dutch auction. The bank announced the minimum clearing price of $220 per right on March 15.

A total of 1,175,619 rights were tendered. Holders of 369,154 rights, or 31.4%, agreed to accept a repurchase price of $220 per right, according to the release.

Nigeria said it decided to accept tenders at the $220 price level and to reject tenders that specified a higher bid price.

Holders who submitted noncompetitive offers by March 9 will receive, in addition to the $220 clearing price, $2.00 per accepted right.

The offer ended on March 23, and the transaction is expected to close on April 4.

"This operation involving the oil warrants represents the final component of Nigeria's debt exit strategy," Nenadi E. Usman, Nigeria's minister of finance, said in the release.

"It is worth recalling where Nigeria stood two years ago. More than $30 billion was owed to the Paris Club creditor countries. Nigeria had $1.4 billion of outstanding par bonds and more than $700 million due under promissory notes that dated back to the mid-1980s. All of these liabilities have now been eliminated in an efficient and cost-effective manner."

The warrants were issued in 1991 by the Abuja-based bank in connection with Nigeria's Brady-style debt restructuring that year.

D.F. King and Co., Inc. (212 269 5550 or 44 20 7920 9700) was the information agent, and Citigroup Global Markets was the dealer manager.

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